Kenya: Catholic Church seeks to mediate in teachers' pay rise crisis
September 23 2015 By Abi Giwa
Kenyan school children
The Catholic Church in Kenya has expressed its intention to mediate in the country's teachers' pay rise crisis in the interest of Kenyan children, a report by the Daily Nation reveals.
But the Church could only mediate if the government and the teachers abandon their hard line positions and allow dialogue.
The Church's desire was made public by the chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Reverend Philip Anyolo. But the public reaction to the Church desire is not positive.
One of such reactions sees the Church's expression as an interesting idea but asks what her that wasn't what the court had already done. The respondent said that based on his understanding of the matter, the TSC, KNUT and KUPPET disagreed and the court came mediated and settled the issue, but one of the parties in the disagreement - the government - refused to accept the courts' decision. The respondent then asked how exactly do the clergy imagine they will succeed where the court has failed?"
Many other respondent think that the matter at hand is about the rule of law and that there is nothing to mediate than for the government to respect the rule of law. The government has shut the public schools, after it fails to get the private schools shut, because owners of private schools refused to shut their schools, on the understanding that they have contract with parents of children in their school.
Consequently, children from public schools are home, while children in private schools have continued their education. Observers said what the government wants to avoid is the great divide between the children of the rich and the poor by its order for all schools to be shut. But with the private schools' owners refusal, the difference between the children of the rich and the poor in the country has become glaring.
The children of the rich don't go or hardly go to public schools. President Uhuru Kenyatta and other senior government officials cannot claim to have their children in the public schools. The public schools in Africa have become the preserve of the children of the poor, since the rich wants to have their children in private schools to avoid the unwanted disruptions often experience in public schools.
Many observers think it is for the disparity about how the teachers' strike is affecting the children in public schools and private schools that the Kenya government should urgently do something to address the issue of the teachers' pay rise. They say the crisis is not affecting the children in private schools, who are mostly children from affluent homes, but the children from poor homes.
The development in Kenya also shows why corruption is high in Africa and almost unconquerable, because everyone tries to get money at all cost to pay the unavoidable bill like having children in private schools, which the circumstance of bad education management has forced on parents. Having one's children in private school or public school has become an issue of status quo.
But the Church could only mediate if the government and the teachers abandon their hard line positions and allow dialogue.
The Church's desire was made public by the chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Reverend Philip Anyolo. But the public reaction to the Church desire is not positive.
One of such reactions sees the Church's expression as an interesting idea but asks what her that wasn't what the court had already done. The respondent said that based on his understanding of the matter, the TSC, KNUT and KUPPET disagreed and the court came mediated and settled the issue, but one of the parties in the disagreement - the government - refused to accept the courts' decision. The respondent then asked how exactly do the clergy imagine they will succeed where the court has failed?"
Many other respondent think that the matter at hand is about the rule of law and that there is nothing to mediate than for the government to respect the rule of law. The government has shut the public schools, after it fails to get the private schools shut, because owners of private schools refused to shut their schools, on the understanding that they have contract with parents of children in their school.
Consequently, children from public schools are home, while children in private schools have continued their education. Observers said what the government wants to avoid is the great divide between the children of the rich and the poor by its order for all schools to be shut. But with the private schools' owners refusal, the difference between the children of the rich and the poor in the country has become glaring.
The children of the rich don't go or hardly go to public schools. President Uhuru Kenyatta and other senior government officials cannot claim to have their children in the public schools. The public schools in Africa have become the preserve of the children of the poor, since the rich wants to have their children in private schools to avoid the unwanted disruptions often experience in public schools.
Many observers think it is for the disparity about how the teachers' strike is affecting the children in public schools and private schools that the Kenya government should urgently do something to address the issue of the teachers' pay rise. They say the crisis is not affecting the children in private schools, who are mostly children from affluent homes, but the children from poor homes.
The development in Kenya also shows why corruption is high in Africa and almost unconquerable, because everyone tries to get money at all cost to pay the unavoidable bill like having children in private schools, which the circumstance of bad education management has forced on parents. Having one's children in private school or public school has become an issue of status quo.
