KUPPET issues 7-day strike notice over Gov't delay to release capitation funds

Two weeks into the 2025 school calendar, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has raised an alarm over a looming crisis in secondary schools.

The crisis stems from a cash crunch caused by delays in the disbursement of capitation. The union is accusing the Ministry of Education of making false promises about timely funding.

KUPPET Deputy Secretary General Moses Nthurima said: “Many schools are already facing serious challenges including payment of suppliers, school contractors, workers and student accommodation. So the principals are shouldering the burden of debt in schools, yet the government is always pronouncing itself how leaners will find money in their school’s account.”

The union is accusing the ministry of sabotaging education, saying that, in addition to delays in the first-term funds, the government has yet to clear debts owed to schools for nearly seven years.

This situation, they say, is giving headteachers a headache, with schools grinding to a halt, and most programmes and essential school activities affected by the lack of funds.

“The government (should) release capitation money within seven days because our principals are dying because of stress. Principals are workers in this country, when they go looking for funds and taking credits to finance education yet the money is there, I don’t know where we are heading to,” added Nthurima.

The post primary education union is now giving the government a seven-day ultimatum, warning that they will withdraw all their services from schools if in a weeks’ time schools have not received money.

KUPPET has also questioned the government’s insistence to host Grade 9 learners in primary schools yet there is a wastage of resources in high school including extra classrooms that were constructed during the late former Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha’s tenure and qualified teachers owing to the fact that no Form Ones were admitted this year.

“Classrooms in high schools have been left, the teachers have been left idle, the most qualified teachers, and particularly those who are in Sciences. Things like laboratories have nobody to use, sports equipment,” Nthurima noted.

The union has also taken a swipe at the government’s pronouncement that primary school teachers with degrees will be promoted to teach in Junior Secondary Schools, questioning why the ministry has failed to promote high school teachers with Masters and PhDs.

They have also welcomed the move to consolidate bursaries at the national level saying it will reduce wastage and misappropriation of funds, where elected leaders are giving bursaries for political gain and not necessarily to needy students.