This archive report was first published on 24 June 2020.
On June 24, 2020, the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions and Hospital and Allied Workers (Kudheiha) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) urged the government to address the plight of thousands of teachers employed by school boards of management.
The teachers, who have been working without pay since the government closed schools in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, are seeking permanent employment with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
According to Knut boss Wilson Sossion, the payment of any trained and qualified teacher in any school should be transferred to the TSC, as the law recognizes TSC as the valid institution for employing teachers.
"The teachers are assigned by BoMs but their salaries must be paid by TSC in full," Sossion said.
He also called for the teachers to be paid for the months they have gone without pay, stating that it is unconstitutional and a gross violation of labour laws to transfer the burden of paying teachers to parents.
"It is unconstitutional. It is a gross violation of labour laws to transfer the burden of paying teachers to parents. Those schools are government institutions and those teachers have TSC numbers," Sossion said.
