Youth leaders have criticised the ongoing teachers strike saying it goes against the Millennium Development Goals.
Speaking at Olympic estate on Thursday, chairperson of Langata Youth Network, Daniel Orogo expressed disappointment on how the current stalemate in the education sector is being handled by the parties involved.
“We are part of the world and Kenya is a signatory to the Millennium Development Goals; one important goal in the agreement is ensuring access to quality education,” said Orogo.
“It is not wise for policy makers to take tough decisions like ‘Can’t pay, won’t pay’ or ‘can’t teach won’t teach’. At the end of the day, the children of the poor Kenyans from Kibera, Mathare, Turkana and the likes are affected the most while their colleagues are attending international schools,” he added.
He reiterated that the action taken by government to close down schools is harmful to the development of the nation.
“Let us find an amicable solution because by closing down schools, we are bringing up a generation that is not well educated and that is a disaster to this nation. I am calling upon my President, Members of Parliament including my area MP (Ken Okoth), and other leaders to save the education sector,” urged Orogo.
This comes even as teachers remain adamant on their stance that they won’t report back to class if the Teachers Service Commission fails to honour the court ward of 50-60 per cent salary increment.
On the other hand, the government has insisted that such increase would ruin the economy of the nation.