Teachers in Kenya have never been taken with the seriousness they deserve. The strike has hit the third week and no sign it will end soon. The Kenya National Union of Teachers has instructed teachers to close down all schools while the Teachers Service Commission is giving out threats. Worse still, the President and his deputy have stated that the Government does not have money to pay teachers.
As the Government moves at a snail’s pace to hear the teacher’s cries, school girls are rushing into early marriage.The government is only seeing the 50-60 percent as being too much and not the consequences of the strike on the children. We have never cared to understand what school signifies to our children, how it keeps their little minds busy. Now that the teachers are on the streets, no one is left to chaperone the children, parents are watching in despair as their children spin out of control.
Before private schools mushroomed everywhere, candidates were not frightened by the thought of teachers strike, if anything it pleased them, but now the game has changed. The candidates in private schools are busy learning while their counterparts in public schools are at home.
One of the girls in Taveta who has been contemplating early marriage as KCSE nears said, “I am scared that the candidates we are set to compete with in the National exams are in school while we sit at home and yet our syllabus is not complete.” She sought to transfer to a private school but the parents advised against it due to high fee charged by these schools.Out of frustration and fear of failure she prefers getting married. It will be a shame to the government if with all its efforts and resources deployed to empower the girl child, these school girls opt for marriage.
It is in this light that I share the same opinion with John Mbadi the party chairman of Orange Democratic Movement ,that the National exams be postponed because pupils learning in public schools will not be ready to sit for the exams.
Children feel left out as the fight between the two bulls intensifies with everyone standing their ground. If not for anything, for our candidates’ sake, please Mr. President they need your indulgence to go back to class where they will be safe and secure.
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