Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba/ HANDOUT The fate of at least 24,000 Junior Secondary School teacher interns, among more than 44,000 tutors pushing for permanent employment, hangs in the balance.
This follows the government’s confirmation it has secured funding to absorb only 20,000 of the teachers into permanent and pensionable employment from January next year.
Education CS Julius Ogamba told the Senate the remaining 24,000 interns will have to wait for the government to find additional resources.
“We will continue to engage the National Treasury and other stakeholders with a view to securing additional resources to facilitate the gradual absorption of the remaining 24,000 intern teachers into permanent and pensionable service,” he said.
The CS was responding to questions from nominated Senator Joyce Korir, who asked about the government’s plan to absorb the 44,000 intern teachers.
“What measures are currently in place by the ministry for the permanent absorption of intern teachers?” Korir asked.
The revelation threatens to reopen a long-running dispute between the government and thousands of qualified JSS teachers who have spent years teaching under temporary internship contracts while demanding permanent and pensionable terms.
President William Ruto had previously indicated that the 24,000 teachers recruited in the latest internship cohort would also be transitioned to permanent terms in the next financial year.
The National Treasury had set aside Sh8.16 billion for intern teachers and Sh4.92 billion to convert 20,000 interns to permanent and pensionable employment from January 2027.
The latest position means the 24,000 teachers will continue working as interns while the government mobilises resources for their permanent employment.
Ogamba, however, dismissed concerns schools could be left without teachers because of the uncertainty.
He said the government, through the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), had continued paying interns their monthly stipends and that a court order had allowed them to remain in schools pending the determination of the legal dispute over the internship programme.
“The interns continue to serve in schools and receive their stipends as provided for under the programme,” Ogamba said.
JSS began nationally in January 2023 under the Competency-Based Curriculum, creating an urgent demand for teachers.
The TSC responded by recruiting thousands of teachers as interns.
In the 2023-24 financial year, 46,000 interns were recruited, while another 20,000 joined the programme in 2024-25 and a further 24,000 in 2025-26.
The earlier cohort was subsequently moved to permanent employment, leaving about 44,000 interns in the latest cohorts.
Teachers and their unions, however, have opposed the internship programme, arguing the interns are trained and registered professionals doing the same work as permanently employed teachers but receiving much lower stipends.
The first major confrontation erupted in early 2024, when more than 21,000 JSS interns threatened to strike after their initial 11-month contracts expired.
The dispute escalated into nationwide demonstrations in May 2024 after the TSC failed to immediately confirm the teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
Kuppet officials demanded all 46,000 interns be absorbed, while teachers complained that the roughly Sh17,000 they took home was inadequate.
“We want all the 46,000 JSS interns to be confirmed into permanent and pensionable terms,” Kuppet Narok executive secretary Charles Ngeno said during protests in Narok.
In April 2024, the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled that the TSC had violated the rights of qualified and registered teachers by recruiting them as interns and placing them on disadvantaged terms.
The court declared the recruitment and employment arrangement contravened the constitution and the teachers’ rights to fair labour practices and remuneration had been violated.
Despite the legal battle, the internship programme has continued, with the TSC recruiting new batches as the government grapples with the cost of employing the teachers permanently.
In June 2024, the National Treasury proposed cuts that put plans to permanently employ 46,000 JSS interns in doubt.
Days later, Treasury CS John Mbadi clarified that funds were available to begin converting the 46,000 teachers to permanent terms from January 2025.
Two years later, the government is again promising only a partial solution.
