A total of 20,000 junior secondary school (JSS) teachers employed on a one year internship term in January this year will have their internship contracts renewed for another one year.
This was revealed in Parliament yesterday after it emerged that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was not allocated funds in the 2025 to 2026 budget to confirm them on permanent and pensionable (pnp) terms.
The teachers who were recruited in November last year and were posted to schools in January were hopeful that they will be converted to pnp after their contract expire in December.
However this is a tall order for the government which has slashed the funding in the education sector by sh 62 billion as it struggles to fund critical sectors.
In 2023 the government adopted a policy that made it mandatory for interns to serve for two years in all government departments.
This was after TSC had hired a total of 46,000 teachers in 2022 for a one year internship term but forced them to renew for another year promising them confirmation after the two year service.
President Ruto had personally assured the JSS intern teachers of employment once they serve the two year contract.
This is after the teachers went on strike demanding confirmation on permanent terms.
“It is now a government practice for the intern teachers to work for two years before they are employed on permanent and pensionable terms,” Ruto said at State House.
“The JSS intern teachers will be at work in January. We had promised that before being employed on permanent and pensionable terms, they must do an internship for two years.”
The Labour and Relations Court however declared TSC internship programme illegal.
It said the teachers are not interns but fully trained and registered teachers who should get same treatment as other teachers on pnp payroll.
In the 2025 – 2026 budget TSC has been allocated a total of sh 377 billion for teachers salaries and allowances
Treasury also allocated TSC sh 7.2 billion for intern teachers stipend and employment of another 20,000 intern teachers.
Internship is a key programme that TSC uses to address staffing gaps in schools.
The Teacher Internship Programme is a one year programme meant to equip and sustain competencies of persons entering the teaching service.
The programme targets unemployed registered teachers to be assigned to learning institutions where their teaching experience will be enhanced through mentorship, coaching and exposure to practical teaching experience.
The internship period will be for twelve months though majority of the recent intern teachers have served for two years.
Teacher internship is not a remunerative engagement. However, interns attached to Junior Secondary schools will be eligible for a monthly stipend of Kshs. 20,000/=.
The stipend will be paid subject to statutory deductions like SHIF, Housing levy, and NSSF where applicable.
On successful completion of the Internship Programme, teacher interns will be awarded a certificate.
Intern teachers are also eligible to apply whenever TSC advertises permanent and pensionable teaching vacancies.
In this years scoresheet for recruitment of teachers on permanent and pensionable terms, TSC awarded 50 marks to teachers who served on internship terms regardless of the period served.
TSC has early this month advertised 2,014 replacement slots where a total of 673 slots are for secondary schools which JSS intern teachers can apply.
TSC called for interested and qualified candidates to submit their applications online through the APPLICATION LINK not later than Monday, 19th May 2025 Midnight.