KNUT Gives Details of Gov’t Laxity to Employ More Teachers
Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary General Collins Oyuu has expressed concerns about the government’s failure to hire more teachers, which, in his view, has led to the commercialization of education in the country.
Oyuu has argued that there is a sufficient pool of qualified teachers available, but the government is not actively recruiting them. He pointed out that by the end of 2022, the number of employed qualified teachers and unemployed qualified teachers was nearly equal, with approximately 345,000 actively teaching and close to 320,000 qualified teachers without employment. He emphasized that the issue isn’t a shortage of teachers but rather the need to increase teacher employment.
Due to this employment gap, Oyuu believes that education has become a profit-driven enterprise, where individuals establish institutions, hire underemployed teachers at low salaries, and charge students exorbitant fees, resulting in significant profits.
Oyuu firmly believes that education should remain a public service and not a profit-making venture, highlighting this during an interview with Spice FM.
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He also stressed the importance of maintaining reasonable teacher-pupil ratios, noting that the current ratio stands at 1 teacher to 65 students, while UNESCO recommends a maximum ratio of 1 teacher to 45 students. Oyuu cited instances, like at Olympic Primary School, where teachers are responsible for more than 70 to 100 learners.
Although Oyuu acknowledged the recent efforts by the Kenyan government to hire 35,000 teachers, he argued that even more teachers need to be employed. He emphasized the need for additional teachers to support the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) successfully, underscoring the essential role of a sufficient number of educators in this process.
KNUT Gives Details of Gov’t Laxity to Employ More Teachers
