Updates On Intern Teachers Confirmation. A union demands immediate permanent employment for the 46,000 teachers undergoing internships.
The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) secretary general, Akelo Misori, is also advocating for the appointment of 20,000 more intern teachers for junior secondary schools (JSS).
In the meantime, Misori has attacked the administration for cutting education spending. The administration cited the withdrawal of Finance Bill 2024 as the reason for the decision to cut funding for the education sector.
Kuppet further requests the full implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for the years 2021–2025 as well as the timely payment of past-due medical costs.
According to Misori, the State ought to change internship teachers’ contracts to permanent and pensionable ones right away.
“We demand an immediate conversion of 46,000 intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms, a matter which Kuppet has pursued for more than a year,” said Misori yesterday.
Updates On Intern Teachers Confirmation
Appearing before the National Assembly Education Committee, chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, on Wednesday Teachers Service Commission (TSC) boss Nancy Macharia said intern teachers would have to wait longer to join the government, blaming it on budget cuts.
But Misori said he expects teachers to receive their confirmation letters by the end of the month and see their upgraded salaries reflected in their bank accounts next week
He wants the human resources in JSS to increase in readiness for the transition of 1.2 million learners to Grade 9 next year.
Permanent Employment Of JSS Interns
“We want the immediate employment of new 20,000 teachers for JSS. This recruitment would still leave JSS schools understaffed by nearly 73,000 teachers,” said Misori.
Misori criticised what he termed as the government’s casual attitude towards teachers’ welfare and condemned the Salaries and Remuneration Commission accusing it of enabling the government to undermine workers’ rights.
He insists on the complete implementation of the CBA, including the August 2023 addendum.
Dr Macharia said pay increase for teachers set in the CBA is among the programmes affected by the government’s austerity measures following the slashing of the commission’s budget by Sh10.28 billion.
This reduction means TSC will not be able to implement the second phase of the CBA, Macharia said.
The deal, signed by Kuppet, the Kenya National Union of Teachers, and the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers, was set to give teachers a basic salary increment of up to 9.5 per cent.
Dr. Macharia has issued a warning, stating that legal action and strikes could result from the agreement being broken.
She told the committee that the Treasury has been notified of the effects of the budget cuts. The head of TSC asserts that there is not enough cash on hand to cover salaries.
Even though the arrangement only provided modest benefits, Misori claimed that TSC had to keep up its half of the bargain, pointing out that it was entirely compatible with the law and had been registered with the Employment and Labour Relations Court.
The Kuppet boss claimed that benefits are fixed and cannot be waived.
Updates On Intern Teachers Confirmation