Nine teachers of a top performing primary school in Nakuru who had moved to court challenging termination of their employment will know their fate on November 21.
Justice Stephen Radido set the judgement date after lawyers Steve Biko for the teachers and Dominic Kimata for the school made their closing submissions in court.
The former employees of Lions primary school sacked due to alleged misconduct of ‘disciplining’ learners harshly, want the school to be compelled to clear their names and to issue them with certificates of service together with gratuity for years worked and damages for wrongful dismissal.
Previously, Shalini Wason, a former headmistress and one of the dismissed teachers, in her testimony in court refuted claims of corporal punishment, saying they were shown the door for refusing to sign new contracts which would have seen them lose benefits for years worked.
“As the school administrator then l never received any complaints from parents about pupils subjected to harsh disciplining,” she said during her testimony in court.
Keziah Nduta and eight other teachers moved to court in 2011 seeking damages for alleged wrongful dismissal.
The former teachers in their suit averred that the ‘rude’ dismissal they received from the school’s management had adversely affected their chances of ever getting employment elsewhere.
The teachers through their lawyer, Said Ilham, told the judge that the school erred in law when it failed to give them notice for impending termination of their services and that they were denied a fair hearing after some parents raised complaints that their children had been whipped.
Lions primary school lawyer Dominic Kimata earlier told the court that the nine teachers dismissed by the institution were engaging in corporal punishment to nursery school learners.
“The teachers were dismissed by the school authorities after parents complained that pupils were heavily punished by the tutors,” he told Justice Byrum Ongaya.
The teachers want the community run-school to pay them the damages after rendering services over a period ranging from three to 10 years.
Efforts to have an out-of-court settlement was not fruitful even after Justice Ongaya urged the disputing parties to reconcile and end the tussle.