TSC Now Threatens To Sack Intern Teachers. Now that classes have resumed for the second term, the instructors’ employer has threatened to fire intern teachers who have not shown up for work.
In order to determine appropriate disciplinary action for individuals who have skipped work, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) said that it will receive attendance data from all schools on Friday.
TSC Legal Affairs director Cavin Anyuor stated during his appearance before the National Assembly Education Committee that the attendance records gathered by school administrators will serve as the basis for the disciplinary action.
He stated that on Friday, May 17, the records will be received at the TSC headquarters.
This comes days after intern teachers threatened to refuse to leave their positions despite orders from their employers to return to the classroom.
TSC Now Threatens To Sack Intern Teachers
With the encouragement of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), the educators made grandiose plans to step up their protests the next week.
The Kenya Junior Secondary Teachers Association’s secretary-general, Daniel Murithi, stated that the TSC’s request that they return to work will not weaken their commitment.
TSC has received indications that the majority of students are not returning to school, as evidenced by their response demanding that you do so.
Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t replace 46,000 instructors, as seen by their appeal for you to return, Murithi stated on Wednesday.
The back and forth between TSC and JSS teachers follows a labour court ruling in April that deemed the internship programme as illegal because of unequal pay for equal work. However, a stay order allowed the TSC to continue employing interns until August 1.
TSC Now Threatens To Sack Intern Teachers
But TSC now says it will only negotiate with the interns should they lose the appeal to overturn the illegality ruling.
Further complicating the situation is a budget shortfall, the commission claims it lacks Sh30 billion needed to permanently employ all intern teachers.
It proposes a phased approach, absorbing only 26,000 interns in January 2025 and will need Sh8.3 billion for the absorption of the first cohort alone.
Intern Teachers Boycott Teaching
This comes after a faction of the nearly 60,000 intern teachers on Monday boycotted teaching when schools reopened for second term demanding enhanced pay and conversion of their intern contracts to permanent and pensionable.
According to Anyuor, the commission would act appropriately in accordance with stay orders following a decision that determined the intern instructors’ employment to be unlawful.
The commission is aware of the picketing activities of a few interns. Since May 13, when classes resumed, the commission has ordered that data be gathered by this Friday.
This way, we will be able to determine who is in class and who is not, and the teacher’s code of conduct provisions will be implemented accordingly, Anyuor stated.
In an appearance before the National Assembly Committee on Education on Wednesday, he offered his opinions on the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year (2024–2025).