KUPPET wants TSC to pay risk allowance to science teachers
Mr Ronald Tonui the assistant national treasurer Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) at Kiplelji secondary school, Bomet county. Mr Tonui has called on the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to pay science teachers risk allowances
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) wants the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to pay risk allowances to science teachers.
Mr Ronald Tonui, the assistant national treasurer said the teachers were exposed to a lot of health risks while handling dangerous chemicals in laboratories in the course of imparting knowledge to learners in schools.
“Science teachers have contracted serious respiratory diseases owing to the exposure to chemicals during practical lessons in laboratories over the years and some have died as a result yet they are not compensated for the risks,” Mr Tonui said.
He noted that some of the teachers had been injured during accidents that occur in the laboratories, most of which are not reported.
The most affected are those teaching chemistry and physics as they handle chemicals that emit gases and are prone to explosions and also deal with electrical appliances.
A number of learners have also been injured during practical lessons with many exposed to various degrees of burns leading to their being admitted in hospitals.
The health facilities in the institutions do not have capacity to treat the injuries sustained and the victims have to be taken to hospitals which in most cases are far apart, especially in rural areas.
“In Uganda science teachers are paid risk allowances, why is it that the same can not be paid to those in Kenya yet we have a better performing economy. It is time the country focuses on the welfare of the teachers who have suffered years in silence,” Mr Tonui wondered.
All teachers in public schools, he said, should also be paid risk allowances by TSC owing to the frequent attacks by learners resulting in serious injuries and death.
He said cases of teachers being beaten and killed by students with the most recent ones being in Narok, Kericho, Nyamira, Kisumu and Kisii raised serious issues not just on indiscipline in the learning institutions but also the safety of teachers.
In Narok a secondary school principal was killed by a student who had been subjected to a disciplinary case when he broke the laid down rules and regulations at the institution.
A principal in Kericho was seriously injured on the head when a student who had been sent home to collect fees attacked him with a wood plank that had iron nails. The student was later arrested and arraigned in court.
In another incident, a form three student was arrested and charged in court with attempted murder after he attacked two teachers with a knife after he refused a punishment that had been meted out for being indiscipline.
“Going by the rate of the attacks in the learning institutions spread across the country with many cases going undocumented, there is a need for TSC to pay teachers risk allowances. It is a very serious matter in the institutions with rising cases of indiscipline and attacks,” Mr Tonui said.
Education policies limit teachers on the nature of discipline that can be meted to students with corporal punishment having been outlawed.
However, some of the institutions have been accused of entrenching corporal punishment on indisciplined students.
