Students awaiting to board a bus back to school. [Photo/ nation.co.ke]The Ministry of Education and the two teachers’ unions; Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) on Tuesday failed to reach a common understanding over the new curriculum.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education Dr. Fred Matiang’i had called for the meeting in his office to try and arrive at a consensus with the unions who had threatened to oppose the implementation of the curriculum as schools open for the first term of 2018.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, KUPPET Secretary General Omboko Milemba said that the unions are not against the new curriculum but only want to see the contentious issues addressed before implementation.
“We are not against the implementation of the new curriculum, we understand that after some time of having a single education system like we have had 8-4-4 for a while now, a new one must come,” Milemba said.
“We are only trying to address the issues that touch on the teachers. We know that this negotiations will be fruitful as they will majorly be centered on students’ well-being,” he added.
The ministry of Education had directed that the new curriculum should start being implemented this January, a directive that has received resentment from teachers. The meeting will continue on Wednesday.