JSS teachers issue ultimatum to TSC
JSS teachers issue ultimatum to TSC
JSS teachers issue ultimatum to TSC
Teachers at junior secondary schools (JSS) are demanding compensation and validation from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
The 46,000 instructors that were hired in February and September of last year and assigned to junior schools include the JSS teachers. They want payment for the sixteen months they served without receiving the proper compensation.
According to Emmanuel Akendo, a Kisumu-based JSS teacher, the court determined that the internship was unlawful, discriminatory, and unconstitutional.
In order to get the teachers to return to the classroom, he gave TSC three recommendations: either pay the interns for the 16 months they worked without receiving pay, verify all 46,000 interns, or terminate the tutors if the interns cannot be verified.
Another JSS instructor, Stephen Samba, asked JSC to heed the court’s instruction and cease being indifferent.
“We are not relenting on this matter and asking TSC to come out and obey the court matter. We are willing to come and sit down with them to bring the strike to an end, but only under two conditions, that they will offer confirmation and compensation, without the two, we will not be going back to school,” Samba added.
After a court ruling last month, the teachers have stayed away from school demanding employment on permanent and pensionable (PnP) terms.
Some 38,863 teachers on contract are deployed to JSS, while only 687 are on permanent and pensionable terms. Six thousand interns are in primary schools and 450 others are in secondary schools.
On Tuesday, May 21, 2024, the Kenyan Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) supported the intern teachers’ strike and urged the government to provide funding for tutor hire.
Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori requested the assistance of Parliament, the National Treasury, and the Teachers Service Commission in three letters in order to continue learning and teaching.
The strike, which is taking place in the midst of protracted school closures due to widespread floods across the country, is affecting over 2.5 million JSS pupils.