KEWOTA’s Push For School Breastfeeding.
KEWOTA’s Push For School Breastfeeding. Advocating for Teacher Empowerment: KEWOTA’s Push for School Breastfeeding Centers .
Addressing Maternal Needs
Nancy Rotich, coordinator of the Kenya Women Teachers Association (KEWOTA) in Kericho County, emphasizes the necessity of schools providing designated areas for female teachers to nurse their newborns. This aims to boost the newborn healthy and also the mother’s health in general. KEWOTA emphasized the need of the newborn babies to undergo a normal parental care especially from mothers.
This initiative aims to enable female teachers to fulfill their maternal responsibilities with dignity. Rotich highlighted KEWOTA’s nationwide advocacy for breastfeeding rooms, envisioning spaces where mothers can nurse infants before returning home.
Ensuring Comfort and Support
Rotich clarified at the KEWOTA branch opening in Kericho that it’s the responsibility of school administrators to allocate these rooms, which KEWOTA will equip with necessary nursing items.
Emphasizing the aim to alleviate challenges faced by female teachers when breastfeeding, KEWOTA plans to tastefully decorate and equip the centers for comfort. This will help female teachers to balance between parenting and their profession.
Promoting Financial Literacy and Professional Development
In addition to maternal support, KEWOTA provides financial literacy training, introducing a table banking initiative to alleviate financial burdens on teachers.
Encouraging digitization courses for managing Curriculum-Based Content (CBC) textbooks, KEWOTA highlights the global recognition of credentials obtained through these innovation classes.
Collaborative Efforts for Educational Empowerment
While focusing on empowerment, KEWOTA emphasizes collaboration rather than competition with other trade unions like KUPPET and KNUT.
Moses Okea, an education officer, stresses the importance of educators collaborating to address challenges collectively.
With a focus on teacher empowerment and maternal support, KEWOTA’s advocacy for breastfeeding centers in schools aims to provide a conducive environment for female educators to balance their professional and maternal duties effectively.