TSC & KUPPET Battle Over Intern Teachers Confirmation
TSC & KUPPET Battle Over Intern Teachers Confirmation
Regarding the hiring of intern teachers, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) are at odds. The dispute stems from concerns expressed by the union about recent remarks made by the TSC.
The TSC, in its communication to Members of Parliament last week, announced that teachers currently on contract would see an extension of one more year before their terms of service undergo review.
After serving for two years, the 46,000 teachers in question would become permanent and pensionable (PNP), according to Antonina Lentoijoni, the TSC Director of Teachers Staffing. There are two kinds of interns, according to Lentoijoni: those who started on February 1 and those who started on September 1. For the February group, contract renewal letters for an extra year are due in December.
Speaking before the National Assembly Education Committee, which Julius Melly, the MP for Tinderet, was chairing, KUPPET stressed that the TSC needed to keep its original promise. After their first year of teaching, the union demanded that intern teachers be placed into permanent posts with pensions.
KUPPET Secretary-General Akelo Misori voiced concerns on the demoralizing effect of the TSC’s proposal on primary and junior secondary school (JSS) teachers. Misori emphasized that the TSC has not taken anything to hire the teachers permanently when their current contract expires in January 2024, despite the clear provision in their job contract for a one-year internship.
Misori emphasized the difficult circumstances these educators endured—getting paid only half of what they should have been paid and paying the same amount in taxes as other educators in their grade. This covers the required deductibility of NSSF contributions and housing levies.
