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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 Â鶹APP“ but it is not know if they will have any teachers.

Private schools were also told to shut Â鶹APP“ but many Ìýdefied 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 Â鶹APP“ but this ruling is being contested by the government. Teachers refused to return to classrooms when the new school year began.

Wilson Sossion,ÌýSecretary-General of the Kenya National Teachers Union, said: Â鶹APPœWe are not vacating from our position. You donÂ鶹APP™t comply with the order, we donÂ鶹APP™t resume duty.Â鶹APP�

But Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said teachers should return to work and called the wage demands unaffordable, adding: Â鶹APPœFrankly, it is wrong to hold our children hostage to wage demands.Â鶹APP�

President KenyattaÌýsaid Kenyan teachers receive the third-highest pay in Africa, after Morocco and South Africa. But the news website that teachers' advocates say this doesnÂ鶹APP™t take into account how overworked they are Â鶹APP“ with student to teacher ratios of 50-1 in primary schools, and 29-1 in secondary schools.

The that the country needs another 80,000 teachers Â鶹APP“ despite Education Minister Jacob Kaimenyi saying Kenya spends almost 28% of its national budget on education.ÌýAbout 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.