National schools in Nyanza region have been urged to establish additional streams to absorb students from their vicinity as form one selection kicks off.
Track One Learners Alliance Protection (TOLAP) Chairman, Innocent Masara said schools in the region that were elevated to national schools should consider students from their locality.
Masara said since their elevation, local students have failed to gain access to these schools due to high marks.
“Marks for joining national schools have been raised and we have students with better marks and cannot join these schools some of which are located within their villages,” he said.
He proposed that extra streams should be established in these schools to absorb local students with good marks but failed to get slots in national schools. Masara said parents in these localities where these national schools are located worked hard to collect funds for the construction of these schools and must benefit.
“Whenever there is a fire outbreak in these schools, it is parents from these areas that rush to put out fire and as a way of reciprocating, their children must be considered to join these schools,” he said.
He challenged the school boards to float the idea and come up with minutes to the county education board for implementation.
Addressing a press conference on Monday in Kisumu, Masara also faulted Teachers Service Commission for failing to pay and employ permanently teachers who were recruited during the long teachers’ strike last year. He said teachers are professionals and should not be engaged in contract basis.
Masara threatened to move to industrial court to challenge the Commission to pay salary for the contractual teachers that were relieved immediately after the end of the strike.
“There is teachers’ shortage in the country and if TSC cannot pay these teachers within seven days then I will move to court to compel the Commission to pay and employ these teachers,” he said.
Masara also took issue with names of secondary schools doing rounds on social media to have cheated in the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
He said that is causing anxiety among parents, teachers and students and called upon the Kenya National Examination Council to investigate the origin of such texts. Masara further took issue with Kisumu County ministry of education officials for constant harassment of teachers in the county.
“Teachers are being demoted en mass without giving them adequate time to defend themselves. Issues of misappropriation of funds should be looked keenly and not allowing these officers to harass teachers,” he said.