Female Teachers in Embu Trained to Be Agents of Change

Embu,

Saturday, September 30, 2023

KNA by Samuel Waititu

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Embu Branch has conducted a sensitisation workshop for all female teachers in the county on how to cope with issues of mental health and other work-related challenges.

The training comes at a time when cases of suicide, alcoholism and drug abuse are said to be on the rise in the teaching fraternity and largely attributable to the prevailing hard economic times that has thrown many into a spin.

KUPPET Branch Gender Secretary Miriam Wawira said women are the ones who bear the biggest brunt during such difficult economic times as they are the cushion of the family and the society.

Speaking on Saturday during the one-day training held at the University of Embu, Ms. Wawira said it was thus necessary to empower them on how to survive the tough times by building resilience.

“We need to sensitise them on the times we are living in because at the end of the day they are the ones who have to take care of their families and are also the ones who take up the guidance counselling role at school,” she said.

She said several of their male counterparts had committed suicide and others are sinking into drug abuse and alcoholism as a result of harsh economic time and thus the necessity to empower the women to take these challenges head-on.

Ms. Wawira also said they are also empowering the women to be able to lookout for signs that may lead to them being abused either sexually, verbally, emotionally or physically in school or at the family level.

“We want them to become better parents, spouses and workers,” she said, adding that they also want them to lead and guide the young girls and boys in the fight against drug menace and teenage pregnancies.

Branch Executive Secretary Jacob Karura lamented that most of their members had been economically crippled due to shrinking of their pay slips following the implementation of the new housing levy.

He said the only thing that the union has been left to do is to call for such gatherings to train them on how they can wade through these economic difficulties.

Karura said they are hoping to extend the program to the male teachers because most of these issues affect both genders and called on both the county and national governments to come on board.

Courtesy; KNA