
TSC to Permanently Employ 26,000 Intern Teachers
The strike by Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern teachers, which had threatened to paralyse education, could end after the Teachers Service Commission was allocated funds to absorb the tutors on permanent and pensionable terms.
This was communicated by the National Assembly Committee on Education led by Julius Melly the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tinderet.
Melly, who was leading his team to submit budget estimates for the 2024/25 financial year and the supplementary II budget for the 2023/24 financial year, announced that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) had been allocated money to convert 26,000 intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms.
The submissions were received by the Budget and Appropriations Committee led by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro.
To that end, it was okayed that TSC would receive Ksh8.3 billion to ensure the striking teachers are given permanent employment.
Additionally, TSC will receive Ksh4.7 billion to recruit 20,000 intern teachers. Melly noted that the whole exercise resulted in a deficit of Ksh14.6 billion, urging for more resource allocation.
“Further, Melly recommended that the TSC should convert the 26,000 interns into permanent employment beginning July 2024, and not January 2025 as proposed,” a report from the National Assembly indicated.
In a further win for teachers, it was revealed that the money had been made available for promotions.
“The Tinderet MP assured that TSC has been allocated Ksh1 billion to promote teachers who had stagnated in one job group for a long period,” it was reported,
The two National Assembly committees further discussed the need to reinstate the school feeding program, which former President Daniel Moi started three decades ago.
MP Melly requested the Budget Appropriations Committee to reconsider reinstating the Ksh4.9 billion feeding programme.
Earlier, President William Ruto’s chief economic advisor David Ndii had stated that henceforth, the feeding programme would be handled by the Ministry of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL).