Kenya's Teachers Return to Class as Strike Suspended

Kenya's Teachers Return to Class as Strike Suspended

Jill Craig
October 05, 2015 12:21 PM
NAIROBI, KENYA—
Kenya's teachers and students have returned to class, after a five-week teachers' strike
was suspended. The country's teachers' unions called the strike at the beginning Of the
school year after the government said it was unable to pay a court-ordered salary
increase

Kenya's public school students and teachers returned to classrooms Monday, following
the suspension of the national teachers' strike. Teachers' unions agreed to comply with a
court order that will give them 90 days to negotiate salary terms with the government.

The government maintains it cannot afford to pay the mandated 50- to 60-percent wage
Increase.

Still, Shukri Abdiraham Maalim, a teacher at Jamhuri High School in Nairobi, said he is
glad to be back at work.

"We are very happy to come back and help the students. Because students were suffering
and they were doing nothing at home,- he said. "And even the parents, they were
complaining about keeping the children at home for doing nothing."

Students' preparations :

Some secondary students at Jamhuri insist they were using their free time productively,
to prepare for upcoming exams.

Eleventh grader Stephen Kariuki said he is confident the strike will not affect his grades.
"I think we are going to excel because most of us were studying alone at home and some
of us were coming at school to study. So I do not think that we have lost much, despite
the teachers being away," said Kariuki.

Twelfth-grader Edwin Ondara said he has been coming to school since the strike began to
prepare for exams

"We had few teachers, and few lessons, but today, I have seen a great change. Teachers
are many in numbers, and they are taking their lessons very serious," said Ondara.
And because Of this seriousness, Kariuki said he hopes his teachers receive a good raise.
"Yeah, they should make more money because they are the ones who make everyone in
the society, the politicians, the engineers. so, they should earn more than the politicians
because they pass through their hands," he said.

Response:
It is very exciting to hear, that the teachers in Kenya have ceased their strike and have returned to teaching in the public schools once more. It is obvious to see why the teachers wanted to strike in the first place, because they thought they were going to receive a raise, that in the end could not be achieved by the government. It is also seen that it would be impossible for the government to pay all the teachers the amount of money the court was requiring without the country going bankrupt. This article is obviously trying to shine a positive light on the situation by quoting students whom have been desperately striving to gain knowledge and pass their exams. It is not wrong that their bias is positive, but they could have shown that the strike had a negative effect on Kenya; since all the students were out in the city without any structure or super vision, and their parents had to be at work. It is good to read that the teachers are serious and that will affect the work of the students. Overall, the article makes the point that the teachers are teaching once more and the students are learning.

Craig, Jill. "Kenya's Teachers Return to Class as Strike Suspended." 

Voice of America. Voice of America, 5 Oct. 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2015. <http://www.voanews.com/content/kenya-teachers-return-to-class-as-strike-suspended/2992164.html>.