Teachers offering their services in Nairobi county are now calling on the Government to gazette the region among hardship areas and consequently receive allowances by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
The teachers, through the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Nairobi branch, further want the government to consider recognizing and appreciating those working in slum areas by being paid Special Allowances.
In a memorandum presented to 17 Nairobi MPs for lobbying led by KNUT Nairobi branch Executive Secretary Macharia Mugwe, the teachers argue that the City has a lot of emerging challenges that confront them daily.
They have pointed out heavy traffic jams, political unrest, presence of drug and substance abuse, congested settlements in slums among other challenges, decrying that many of them have been diagnosed with depression and stress due to the severe hustle and bustle.
“Nairobi has the largest slums in the whole country. Slums like Kibera, Mathare, Babadogo, Mukuru kwa Njenga, Mukuru Kayaba, Kawangware and many more shelter many teachers of Nairobi. In all these slums there are public schools where teachers go to work daily,” reads the memorandum signed by Mugwe, KNUT Nairobi branch Chairman Nyamai Kasina and branch Treasurer Hannington Ochieng’.
The teachers have appealed to the National Assembly through the departmental committee on Administration and National Security to recommend to the relevant government authorities a review of the existing hardship areas to reflect the true position of the reality faced by teachers in Nairobi.
They have further noted that the Nairobi has already met the entire threshold required for designating an area as hardship zone which include none or limited availability and accessibility of food, limited access to portable water, non or limited transport and communication services, harsh climate, and social economic indicators such as poverty index from the Kenya National Bureau of Statics.
“The city is a high and expensive region in the country. Foodstuff and other normal utility prices have hit the roof. In the city, teachers have no plots and have no access to any space where they can grow grocery to supplement their earnings. Teachers in Nairobi are fed by the neighboring counties. Foodstuff prices in Nairobi are ever higher than any other place. From our interaction with teachers it is evidently clear that teachers spent more than a quarter of their salaries to buy food only,” said KNUT.
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According to the union branch, a survey they conducted revealed that 75 per cent of teachers reported that water is very expensive in the City and many a time they experience rationing, with water vendors selling a 20-litre water jerrycan at Ksh30; while over 80 per cent of the teachers reported that they wake up almost three days in a week to fetch water in the middle of the night.
The union has further argued that some schools are situated far from public vehicle dropping points, in particular schools around State House, which pose a big challenge since there are no public vehicles plying along the route.
“In some schools like Chereta primary school, Manyatta primary school, Mutuini primary and Athi primary school, teachers are forced to walk for a long distance to reach the schools. Short distances in the city are more expensive in fares compared to distances in other areas out of Nairobi where teachers are earning hardship allowances,” the union argued in the document.
The teachers have also observed that there is high enrolment in many schools in Nairobi as a result of free education and influx of people from other counties to the city, with some schools having over 120 leaners in one class being handled by one teacher, making class administration and management heavier.
By Roy Hezron
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