The 2018 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) may fail to kick off as planned at the end of the year if the government fails to pay the teachers their dues.
According to Kisumu Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers Executive Secretary, Zablon Awange, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has not been able to pay teachers who supervised the 2017 their dues and they vowed to boycott supervising and marking of 2018’s KCSE exams.
Awange said the government owes the teachers about Sh1.5 billion and urged them to pay off quickly.
He observed that the allocation was made long before the 2017 examinations, and gave KNEC, a five-day ultimatum to clear the dues, failure to which teachers will sabotage the exercise.
Awange said the union was disturbed by KNEC's reluctance to pay teachers, who marked the 2017 exams, months after the release of examination results.
“We shall boycott this year’s supervision and marking exercise, and demand that in future, KNEC pays contracted officials before the exams start,” he said
“Payment delayed is payment denied, and if KNEC cannot pay up, then they should stop hiring teachers, and employ their own staff to supervise and mark the exams,” he added.