Bomet ECDE Teachers Walk Off the Job Over Low Pay
Bomet ECDE Teachers Walk Off the Job Over Low Pay. Bomet County’s early childhood educators are extremely frustrated. Teachers in the field of Early Childhood and Development Education (ECDE) are now on strike over the low compensation and large deductions that have drastically lowered their already meager salaries.
These teachers are complaining to Governor Hillary Barchok about his lack of interest in increasing their pay by implementing suitable service programs for ECDE teachers or offering them permanent employment.
The impact of the rising cost of living and inflation, which have reduced their limited incomes, has the teachers very concerned. To provide them some relief, they are requesting that their pay be reviewed.
Bomet County, along with a number of other counties like Machakos, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kisii, Migori, Kitui, Makueni, Bungoma, Nandi, Embu, Kakamega, and Nakuru, is regarded as one of the most difficult places for ECDE instructors to work.
However, there is optimism because county education officials are now proactively addressing these teachers’ worries. They have promised to develop service programs for ECDE teachers and to reinstate certain teachers whose contracts were terminated.
The teachers would be able to more easily manage new deductions like housing levies and provident funds if these programs were implemented.
Governor Barchok declared in April of the year before that all 56,000 kids enrolled in the county’s 1,221 ECDE facilities would continue to get free milk. The New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC) will supply the milk for the first four and a half months of this venture, which started in February 2022.
Nicholus Barich, the chief accounting officer for Bomet County, said that Ward Coordinators will oversee milk distribution in their respective regions to make sure that no school is left out.
Bomet County launches comparable initiatives to help its county, joining others like Nairobi, Mombasa, and Nyandarua. Due to the high caliber and amount of milk produced in Bomet, the area has earned a reputation of being dairy-rich.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, 200ml packets of Bomet milk are sent to ECDE centers. According to Governor Hillary Barchok, the goal of this program is to encourage kids’ attendance at school and good health. Local farmers will also profit by providing milk, while Bodaboda drivers will make money by delivering milk boxes to different centers.