Yesterday I was watching KTN and saw a discussion of the state of the Kenyan primary school education, especially with the looming teachers strike. Teachers are complaining that they are being paid peanuts compared to members of parliament who earn a lot of money, from basic salary to driving allowances.

I talked to Kiss 100's Larry Asego on his take on the fact that teachers have to work and make ends meet and the fact that most pupils in lower primary are not conversant with the syllabus. Here's what he had to say:

Larry Asego, whose mother was a teacher knows what teachers know what to do. He thinks that the best way ahead is a wholesome approach towards the problem; threats have never worked in the past and they'll never work in the future.

He also says that just like any other professional, teachers are justified to support their lifestyle because if they're straining with their finances – which of now are meagre – they can operate a Kiosk and ask someone to run them on their behalf.

“For every 100 shillings a Kenyan pays towards tax, 75 is used towards covering recurrent costs.” Larry says, concerned with the undoubtedly ridiculous spending plans. “Only 25 goes towards development.”

The government can negotiate a time-line of meeting the teachers' demands; for instance offering 25 billion as of now, then proceeding to honor the promise in the next 6-8 months. That way, the teachers will see some seriousness in the government's action.

This will ultimately transform into much better performance by students. Teachers won't be disgruntled and work with unsatisfied hearts. We've always had high school failures who have chosen to be teachers in their local village schools. This also contributes to the lower performance records posed by schools as the KTN feature showed.

Other than teachers' pay, the Kenyan school education system has other problems. In 2014, A total of 889,107 concluded their exams, but only about 77 percent of those will be able to get high school spaces. This is due to the lack of school infrastructure that can accommodate these youth, which translates into lost focus and increased crime rates nationally.