KNUT Urges TSC To Scrap Internship To End Stalemate

KNUT Urges TSC To Scrap Internship To End Stalemate

Today marks the beginning of the second week of a nationwide work boycott by the 46,000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern teachers. Unions are backing the teachers and urging the government to resolve the impasse.

Collins Oyuu, Secretary-General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), along with Akelo Misori, Secretary-General of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), warned that the strike could disrupt learning in Grades Seven and Eight.

Interns assigned to regular primary schools earn Sh15,000, while those in JSS receive Sh20,000, which they argue is insufficient. According to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), a newly employed JSS teacher earns Sh34,955 monthly, along with a Sh5,000 commuter allowance, a house allowance ranging from Sh16,000 to Sh8,133 based on the workstation, and applicable hardship allowances.

Over the weekend in Nyeri County, Oyuu emphasized that the TSC should stop hiring teachers as interns, following the High Court’s directive to abandon this arrangement and hire teachers on permanent and pensionable terms. He called on MPs and education stakeholders to intervene and resolve the impasse for the benefit of both teachers and learners.

“The employment of teachers as interns should not have taken place, and we are in agreement with the High Court,” Mr. Oyuu stated in Nyeri County over the weekend.

KNUT Urges TSC To Scrap Internship To End Stalemate