The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary General, Akello Misori, has asked the government to amicably resolve challenges facing Junior Secondary School teachers before they spiral out of control.
While speaking at his residential home in Migori, Misori said that the Ministry of Education needs to clearly absorb more Junior Secondary School teachers on a Permanent and Pensionable (PnP) basis as a way of boosting their esteem.
His sentiments come amidst the national outcry from the Junior Secondary School Teachers, who have since threatened to paralyse learning come January 2026, if their request for autonomy is not honored by the Ministry of Education (MoE).
Some of the challenges that the JSS Teachers have raised include; resource scarcity (materials, labs), workloads due to lack of enough JSS teacher, inadequate training for the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), poor infrastructure at the primary level, issues with deployment and management, demoralizing pay/benefits especially those on internship programme and frustration over lack of clear career paths and support, leading to low morale and system instability.
While Misori cautioned the government about looming challenges that the JSS teachers are facing in teaching the new system of education, he urged the teachers to be tolerant and give the government time to look for alternative ways of addressing their concerns.
The official also noted that the reluctance of the government to address the pleas of JSS teachers may result in weakening the new Competency-Based Education (CBE), with grade 10 soon to join the Senior Secondary School in 2026.
Other challenges mentioned by Misori included the clustering of schools, which he said is clouded with a lot of unclear engagements and may spark a lot of reactions from education stakeholders.
He also cited the national outcry of teachers for better medical coverage, a deal that teachers finally accepted new medical cover from Social Health Authority, with the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSS) promising expanded access to hospitals and benefits for dependents.
by Awuor Andy & Makokha Khaoya
