The 46,000 intern teachers who were recruited this year will have their contracts extended in January for one more year before they are made permanent and pensionable employees in 2025.
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) chief executive officer Nancy Macharia on Thursday, November 30, told the Senate Committee on Education that the contracts of the teachers will expire in January 2024 but the commission does not have budgetary allocation to convert their employment to permanent and pensionable terms.
Ms Macharia said that the teachers will be given first priority in filling vacancies in schools and that they will be hired automatically without the posts being advertised.
However, Nandi Senator Samsom Cherargei warned TSC that such an action might pose legal challenges.
“We don’t have money for employing them on permanent and pensionable basis but we have money for extension of their contracts. If we’re given the money, we’ll absorb them,” the TSC boss said.
Most of the teachers have been deployed to junior schools, which had only Grade Seven this year. Next year, the newest section of the education system will have an additional class and the workload on the teachers is expected to double.
Failure to extend their contracts would virtually ground operations in junior schools. Interns deployed to junior and secondary schools earn Sh20,000 per month while those in primary schools earn Sh15,000 per month.
Two weeks ago, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) called for the conversion of the teachers’ contracts to permanent terms. Kuppet Secretary-General Akello Misori said failure to do so before the contracts expire in January 2024 could destabilise the implementation of competency-based curriculum (CBC), when the pioneer class progresses to Grade Eight and Grade Six moves to Grade Seven.
"It's not just about fulfilling contracts; it's about safeguarding the educational system from disruptions. These intern teachers play a crucial role in the CBC transition and destabilising their status could have severe repercussions on the next phase of Grade Eight," Mr Misori stated.
He said the teachers work under difficult conditions, which has affected their morale and compromised the quality of education.
“Serving on internship is nothing short of a patriotic act. The teachers have persevered extremely demoralising conditions of service. They are paid just half of their deserved salaries. They enjoy no medical insurance and do not contribute to the pension scheme for teachers. Ironically, they are taxed at the same level as other teachers of their grade,” Mr Misori said.
During yesterday’s meeting, Ms Macharia told the senators that the TSC has 34,970 on the waiting list for promotions but the commission has not promoted them due to lack of funds. She said, of these, 21,051 teachers are in Grade C3 while 13,919 others are in Grade C5. The CEO said 36,512 positions for promotion have been advertised and teachers will be interviewed from December 4 in their counties. The promotions will cost the government Sh1.1 billion.
The senators took the TSC boss to task over the fate of non-local teachers who have been demanding to be transferred from schools in the North Eastern region to their home counties, citing insecurity fears. She was responding to requests for statements by the senator for Isiolo County, Fatuma Dullo and Mr Cherargei.
Ms Macharia said that, as of October, the commission had received 661 transfer applications from teachers working in North Eastern. Of these, 25 have been effected and the remaining 636 will be considered “when there are available suitable replacements to ensure learning continues seamlessly”. She revealed that there were 3,246 non-local teachers deployed to work in the region, out of whom 223 sought transfers. She said 129 teachers were interdicted for refusing to resuming duties.
The senators said the matter touched on security and that the cabinet secretary for Interior, Prof Kithure Kindiki, his Education counterpart, Mr Ezekiel Machogu, Inspector-General of Police Japhet Koome and teachers unions would be invited to the committee to resolve the issue.
To address the staffing shortage in North Eastern region, Ms Macharia said TSC has commenced the recruitment of retired teachers, who are below 65 years, on contract basis.
