Kenya’s schools closed as teachers stay out on strike

Students at a primary school near Nairobi organise their own lessons during a previous teachers' strike in 2011

The government in Kenya has ordered all public schools to close indefinitely because of a three-week-old teachers' strike over pay.

More than one million high school students who have exams in October will be allowed to go to school 国产视频� but it is not know if they will have any teachers.

Private schools were also told to shut 国产视频� but many 听defied the order, according to reports. The Kenyan high court ruled yesterday that the government could not tell private schools to close.

The country's 280,000 public school teachers were awarded pay rises of between 50% and 60% by a court 国产视频� but this ruling is being contested by the government. Teachers refused to return to classrooms when the new school year began.

Wilson Sossion,听Secretary-General of the Kenya National Teachers Union, said: 国产视频淲e are not vacating from our position. You don国产视频檛 comply with the order, we don国产视频檛 resume duty.国产视频�

But Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said teachers should return to work and called the wage demands unaffordable, adding: 国产视频淔rankly, it is wrong to hold our children hostage to wage demands.国产视频�

President Kenyatta听said Kenyan teachers receive the third-highest pay in Africa, after Morocco and South Africa. But the news website Quartz reported that teachers' advocates say this doesn国产视频檛 take into account how overworked they are 国产视频� with student to teacher ratios of 50-1 in primary schools, and 29-1 in secondary schools.

The BBC reported recently that the country needs another 80,000 teachers 国产视频� despite Education Minister Jacob Kaimenyi saying Kenya spends almost 28% of its national budget on education.听About one million of Kenya's primary-age population are out of school.

Another court case will be heard on September 25, to determine the legality of the teachers' strike.