Kuppet wants legislators to help end protests JSS teachers
Junior Secondary School teachers outside the Teachers Service Commission offices on May 13, 2024
The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has asked Parliament to help end the countrywide protests by Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers.
The union has thrown its weight behind the teachers, calling for their hiring on permanent and pensionable terms.
Schools reopened for second term on Monday but the JSS teachers took to the streets protesting failure by the commission to employ them on permanent terms.
In three letters addressed to the National Assembly, the National Treasury and the commission, Kuppet Secretary-General Akelo Misori said the demonstrations have paralysed learning in Grade Seven and Eight.
Mr Misori appealed for mediation from the National Assembly Education and Research Committee, saying JSS is vital in the implementation of the competency-based curriculum.
Regularising employment terms
He added that the union supports regularising employment terms of the 46,000 teachers on contract, a majority who are in JSS.
The teachers’ demand is premised on the judgment by the Employment and Labour Relations Court last month that faulted their hiring on contract.
However, the court stayed the implementation of the order until August 1.
The court said the commission can only hire teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
The teachers are on one-year contracts but those hired last year had theirs extended. An intern primary school teacher gets a monthly “stipend” of Sh15,000 while one in JSS is given Sh20,000.
The teachers, however, take home less since the “stipend” is subject to tax, including the Housing Levy.
The TSC says it will convert the terms for contract teachers who serve for two years to permanent and pensionable.
“Though the TSC is appealing the judgment, such effort is futile and counter-productive since the court has elucidated the law in the issue,” Mr Misori says in the letter.
“No institution is better placed to help the parties reach an amicable resolution than the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Research.”
Mr Misori urged the Treasury to initiate earmarking resources for TSC to employ the teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
“Kuppet affirms our readiness to work with the National Treasury and other government organs in resolving this issue within the law,” he says in the letter.
Return-to-work formula
He called for a meeting with the TSC within seven days, saying the crisis can only be redressed through partnership and dialogue, rather than brinkmanship and endless litigation. He said the meeting would explore immediate solutions and a return-to-work formula for the teachers.
Meanwhile, the commission insists the internship is structured to provide aspiring teachers practical working experience, aligning with the principles of merit-based employment.
“The commission calls upon the interns to obey the court order and go back to school as learning in public schools formally resumed on May 13, 2024,” TSC Chairman Jamleck Muturi John said in a statement.
However, Mr Owino Okello – the chairman of the JSS teachers in Nairobi County – said the tutors would obey the ruling by staying out of school.
“This is the third time we are coming to TSC offices. We were told to wait for a response the last time we were here. We waited in vain,” he said.
