The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has welcomed the interim report by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER).
Led by KNUT Secretary General, Collins Oyuu, the union acknowledged the report saying domiciling Grades 7, 8 and 9 in primary schools is a big win for Kenyans.
"KNUT appreciates the preliminary report released by PWPER. The President's address on retaining Grades 7,8 and 9 in primary school is a big win for Kenyans. This is because all the infrastructure available in our existing primary schools can now be put to good use away from the already trained and qualified teachers with diplomas, degrees and other postgraduate courses in our primary schools," Oyuu said in a statement.
In their presentation to PWPER, the union had called for the need to have Junior Secondary schools placed in primary schools, saying that the learners are too young to move to secondary schools.
Oyuu stated that the union also presented three research findings to the working group, which have a direct impact on education reforms in the country.
He added that the research findings were based on teacher preparedness for Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), summative evaluation and domiciling of junior secondary.
"It is against this backdrop that we feel we gave a satisfactory contribution that has a huge impact on the PWPER preliminary report that was released by the Head of State," Oyuu stated.
He also described the President's directive to employ 30,000 teachers on the CBC take-off and mitigate teachers' shortfall which stands at over 116,000 as a step in the right direction.
"Knut wishes to affirm its commitment to supporting the education sector by contributing positively to policies and directives that will improve the teaching and learning of our children. We must reiterate the fact that we support all Government's interventions aimed at bettering the education sector," he stated.
