Boarding Schools Should Be Phased Out Gradually, KUPPET

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), now wants a gradual phasing out of boarding schools to reduce the workload on the teachers.

According to KUPPET Secretary General Akelo MIsori, teachers in boarding schools work for longer hours than their counterparts in day schools yet they are not renumerated for the extra effort.

“They are required to work for long hours to ensure learners make up for the time lost when schools closed for two terms last year. these teachers also double up as parents as they watch over students to ensure they are safe while in school”, Akelo Misori said during a meeting for KUPPET delegates from Upper and Lower Eastern Regions in Embu town.

Mr. Akelo raised concerns that the workload of boarding school teachers has increased considerably now due to the covid 19 pandemic in the country.

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He went ahead to recommend that policymakers should come up with mechanisms t ensure learners are day scholars who go back home in the evening so that both parents and teachers make an input in the students’ lives.

KUPPET Chairman Omboko Milemba on the other hand said that the move by the government to have headteachers stick in school for long hours is unfair to the teachers who aren’t given an allowance for the extra time they work.

He urged the government to act fast and restore calm and safety in Laikipia County where a few learning institutions were burned in banditry attacks.

In July this year, the government of Kenya had considered abolishing boarding schools for learners in primary and proposed junior secondary schools under the Competency-Based Curriculum, CBC, as one way of making sure parents efforts to offer their children quality education.