Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education (Kuppet) officials have asked the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to stop sacking teachers found drunk while on duty.
Instead, the union wants the teachers' employer to assist in rehabilitating them.
Kuppet national chairman Julius Korir and the branch executive secretary Lewis Nyakweba said alcoholism in teachers should be treated like any disease which requires treatment instead of victimisation.
“School principals should not interdict teachers affected by alcoholism. They should present such cases to our union so that we can collectively assist such them go through rehabilitation,” Nyakweba said.
Korir said principals should take cases of alcoholic teachers to their branch offices so that the affected teachers are talked to and persuaded to go to rehabilitation schools.
“Alcoholism is like malaria, cholera or headache. Since no teacher is sacked for falling sick, then the same should happen to those who are alcoholic,” Korir said.
He said about 50 per cent of teachers sacked by TSC annually are as a result of alcoholism, warning that as a union, they will not allow their members being sacked on drunkenness grounds.
Korir said he did not condone alcoholism amongst teachers, adding that what he detested is the punitive measures taken against the victims.
“Even President Kenyatta has realised that alcoholism is a disease and that is why he directed a countrywide crackdown on the brew,” he said.
Speaking at the Kuppet annual general meeting for Nyamira branch on Saturday, Korir asked that teachers affected by alcoholism be taken to the union to get help.
At the same time, Nyakweba asked TSC officials and security officers in Nyamira County to take action against some students who have been molesting teachers at Rirumi Secondary School.
“Last week, a form four student slapped a teacher several times and went scot-free. We now demand that this student be arrested and prosecuted,” Nyakweba said.
He told teachers at the school to continue with a sit-in until the culprit is brought to book.