Teachers vow to thwart State laptops scheme

By AUGUSTINE ODUOR

Teachers have vowed to sabotage the proposed Sh53.2 billion free laptops for Standard One pupils project if the State fails to cater for their allowances.

While reading the Budget Speech Wednesday, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said the cash would be used to buy laptops for some 1.35 million children expected to join Class One next year.

The money, he said, will also be used to develop digital content and build the capacity for teachers who will cascade the Information and Communication Technology in schools.

Pupils in Standard Four through to Eight will also have computer laboratories constructed under the same allocation. “This will translate to Sh17.4 billion each financial year starting with the next one,” he said.

But the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has said it will not support the project as teachers expected to implement the laptops project were not well remunerated.

Knut national chairman Wilson Sossion said there would be no negotiation with the Government in the implementation of any education project if Sh50 billion to promote teachers and pay their allowances is not factored in the National Budget.

He said all teachers would treat the laptops initiative as a ‘highly suspicious project’.

“Whose idea was it that laptops be implemented in non-priority areas? And are they planning to replace teachers with laptops?” he posed.

Mr Sossion said they will oppose the project and noted no teacher will be allowed to participate in its implementation unless they are paid full allowances as negotiated under the 1997 agreement.

He warned  the teachers’ strike will be called any minute following the ‘laid back’ approach the State has adopted for the education sector.

At the heart of the union’s interest is full implementation of Legal Notice No 534 of 1997 , complete with allowances.