TSC Should Listen To The Plight Of JSS Teachers

TSC Should Listen To The Plight Of JSS Teachers

The ongoing challenges faced by close to 50,000 intern teachers in Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) have been overshadowed by recent national crises, including heavy rains, floods, the doctors’ strike, and the “fake” fertilizer scandal.

However, the genesis of the intern teachers’ struggle stems from the lack of resources at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to adequately remunerate them, a situation exacerbated by constraints within the Treasury in allocating resources to various sectors.

Traditionally, the Treasury sets expenditure ceilings for different sectors, leaving sector leaders to distribute funds to ministries within their purview. However, within each ministry, there are competing demands, such as settling pending university bills, infrastructure development in JSS, teacher recruitment across all levels of education, and ongoing construction in Technical and Vocational Education Institutions.

Facing austerity measures, the TSC has few options for managing its budget. One approach is to increase the number of contact hours per teacher per week or raise the number of students per class to reduce the demand for teachers. Another strategy is to replace older, higher-paid teachers with interns on lower salaries.

However, the current salary of KSh20,000 for secondary school teachers is insufficient to meet their needs, highlighting the challenge of maintaining a sustainable wage bill.

Moreover, the TSC finds itself grappling with the implementation of a new curriculum, the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), without adequate consultation with relevant stakeholders. This lack of coordination has complicated long-term planning for teacher management, exacerbated by uncertainties regarding the domicile of JSS and the deployment of excess primary school teachers to JSS.

Despite gains made through court rulings, such as improved terms for intern teachers, the TSC faces a dilemma. It must decide between abolishing the internship program and hiring teachers on permanent terms to ensure stability and equity in teacher remuneration.

However, this decision requires careful consideration of budgetary constraints and long-term educational goals.

TSC Should Listen To The Plight Of JSS Teachers