Ongoing countrywide strike by JSS teachers adds strain to Nakuru schools

One week after schools reopened countrywide for the second term, some institutions are still grappling with a shortage of Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers.

A spot check by Mtaa Wangu in several JSS schools in Nakuru found that schools have still not received teachers, stretching out the limit of existing teachers to fill the gap while others had them, but still were not to capacity.

Susan Wanjiru, one of the JSS teachers in Nakuru County, expresses concern over how the recently implemented learning system has led to learners being inadequately trained due to significant gaps resulting from the shortage of teachers.

"Our biggest challenge is that most teachers are not in school which has forced some schools to take up primary school teachers, who may be underqualified, to try and cover the gap. Currently, teachers are in class, but effective learning is not taking place because some of the JSS content is adapted from secondary school materials, which should ideally be taught in a more practical and learner-centred manner instead of the lecture method,” she says.

While the teachers are currently on their second week of an inconclusive strike due to their demand for employment on permanent and pensionable terms, Wanjiru informed Mtaa Wangu that some may have resumed their various schools due to coercion by the heads of institutions.

“We currently are on a nationwide strike as our demands have not been met by the government but we have unfortunately also found out that some of the JSS teachers have succumbed to dismissal threats from their school administrators, that have led to their return in their respective schools,” she notes.

Additionally, Wanjiru blames the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) for failing to distribute grade eight textbooks for some learning areas at the close of term one and for failing to guide teachers on handling some of the merged subjects at the beginning of the term. 

This, she notes, has caused confusion among teachers as a subject like Pre-Technical, Business, and Computer- which were recently combined, have forced teachers to each start teaching whichever subject because there lacks uniformity, as such was not provided by KICD.

Even as grade eight prepares to transition to grade nine, Wanjiru says that a lack of infrastructure may hinder this transition.

"Grade 9 classes have not started being built, and even if money was disbursed by the government, some schools have up to five streams, even if they were to build some classes, the infrastructure would still not be enough to accommodate this transition," she concludes.