National Assembly Education Committee Set To Decide Fate Of Hiring JSS Intern Teachers
The National Assembly Education Committee will meet tomorrow with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to discuss the employment of 46,000 Junior Secondary School interns.
The TSC is also expected to report to the committee on the status of teacher promotions in their forties and fifties.
The meeting with MPs follows the Court of Appeal’s decision last week to halt plans to hire 46,000 intern teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
Justices Asike Makhandia, Sankale Ole Kantai, and Ngenye Macharia suspended the Employment and Labour Relations Court’s (ELRC) orders requiring TSC to convert the internship into permanent and pensionable terms.
The interns must continue to work as interns until the case filed by the Nancy Macharia-led commission is heard and decided.
In the application, TSC claimed that Justice ELRC’s orders threw its plans into disarray because the funds needed to hire the intern teachers on permanent and pensionable terms were not budgeted for.
“The rights of all learners in public schools underpinned under Articles 43 and 53 of the Constitution are on the verge of being violated as the Commission has no financial resources to on-board the 46,000 on permanent and pensionable terms and conditions,” argued TSC lawyer Allan Sitima.
TSC is currently facing a significant financial shortfall of Sh3.2 billion as it works to transition over 46,000 intern teachers to permanent and pensionable positions.
Although the government has allocated Sh13.4 billion for the purpose, TSC had previously estimated that Sh16.6 billion would be required to complete the conversion, leaving a significant funding gap.
The allocation was the result of months of conflict, including a strike, layoffs, and an ongoing court case between the interns and the TSC.
During the presentation of the 2024-25 budget to Parliament, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u proposed Sh13.4 billion for this purpose.
Despite the large sum, this proposal does not fully meet the TSC’s financial requirements.
National Assembly Education Committee Set To Decide Fate Of Hiring JSS Intern Teachers
