Hold talks with teachers urgently to avert strike

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The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has threatened a nationwide strike next week over two unresolved matters: a Social Health Authority medical cover that has failed to deliver on its promises, and outstanding payment to teachers who marked last year’s national examinations.

If the strike proceeds, learners will bear the cost of a dispute they have no part in creating. The teachers’ grievances are legitimate. When the government transitioned teachers from the Minet medical scheme to SHA in late 2025, it promised broader coverage, faster approvals and a more equitable system. Four months later, teachers are being turned away from hospitals, told their services fall under a different fund or that their limits are exhausted. 

The scheme’s three-tier structure, one fund for outpatient care, another for inpatient care, a third for critical illness, has created confusion where clarity matters most. On the marking fees, the case is even more straightforward because teachers rendered a service for which they have not been compensated. That is a debt that must be paid in full. 

Underlying both disputes is a pattern that the government must endeavour to work on. It has, on too many occasions, signed Collective Bargaining Agreements with teachers’ unions and treated their implementation as negotiable. That habit corrodes the institutional trust on which the entire education sector depends. Schools are already stretched by delayed capitation and chronic under-funding. A strike can only add disruption to an already burdened system.

The government should convene urgent talks with KUPPET and resolve the marking fees issue immediately. Truth be told, there is no justification for further delay. On SHA, a joint technical committee should be set up to solve specific complaints that teachers have raised and propose remedies within a given timeline. 

A functional education system requires that teachers have trust in the State. Right now, that trust is missing. Rebuilding it should start with honouring what has already been promised. 

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