Kenya – Several Government Schools In Kenya Closed Indefinitely Due To Unrest

By Lisbeth Micheni, Kenya

Several public secondary schools in Machakos county have been closed indefinitely due to student unrest, the institutions’ principals told the Star news.

The students were released to go home on Monday morning.

Kenya Union of Post- Primary Education Teachers officials early Sunday held a National Governing Council meeting and declared that their nationwide strike is still on.

They maintained that no teaching would go on in all the schools across the country, urging parents to go pick up their children from their respective schools.

“That the schools are not running, and they are not going to run. For the next week and even beyond, the teachers will remain at home,” Kenya Union of Post- Primary Education Teachers Secretary General Akelo Misori said.

The first week of the third school term has been rocked by demonstrations in various parts of the country as teachers affiliated with Kenya Union of Post- Primary Education Teachers agitated for their grievances with their employer, the Teachers Service Commission.

Tension was reported at Machakos High School on Sunday evening as students demanded to be released to go home.

“Ni kubaya, they want to go home. They are being addressed at the assembly,” a teacher at the school said.

The tutor at the school said the agitated students had been told to return to their dormitories.

There were claims that some of the tutors residing within the school compound and who had responded to calm the students scampered for safety after the learners became violent.

Tension was still high at the institution by press time.

The incidents come days after some Kenya Union of Post- Primary Education Teachers members stormed several schools within the county to reportedly eject teachers suspected to have been working as their colleagues continued with the protests.

The Kuppet members have vowed to completely paralyze learning in all schools across the country until the government heeds their demands.

“I’m releasing my students tomorrow due to security concerns, especially after reported unrest. Parents too are demanding for learners to be released,” a school principal told the Star by phone on Sunday night.

Mitaboni ABC Girls in Kathiani sub county is among the schools that have been closed indefinitely.

The closure has come as the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) intensifies their strike.

Kenya union of post primary Education Teachers, Machakos branch secretary general, Musembi Katuku, confirmed the schools’ closure, stating that several schools will be sending students back home from yesterday.

“No teaching is going on in these schools because there are no teachers,” Katuku told the Star on Sunday evening.