JSS Intern Teachers Set TSC Confirmation Deadline.
Junior Secondary School intern instructors have promised to keep staging nationwide demonstrations until the Teachers Service Commission hires them on a permanent, pensionable basis.
Currently, the intern instructors work under an annual contract.
On Monday, Nairobi County JSS intern teachers marched from the Nairobi bus terminus to TSC headquarters as part of a protest headed by Chairperson Owino Okelo.
“There will be constant strikes by JSS teachers in Nairobi and the country at large until we are confirmed into permanent and pensionable terms,” he stated.
According to Okelo, the teachers would not be serving as interns at schools because the TSC internship program has been declared illegal by the courts.
“We obey the court order by staying away from schools and all teachers shall be involved in peaceful demos as call and agitation for action from TSC in a bid to comply with the court ruling,” he stated.
Okelo mentioned TSC’s unsuccessful appeal of the court order.
The confirmation of permanent and pensionable periods is what the instructors desire.
In addition, they seek payment for the time they spent working as interns without receiving paid.
“TSC is at liberty to call the teachers for negotiations on how the interns can be confirmed into permanent and pensionable terms in compliance with the court ruling,” Okelo stated.
On Wednesday, April 17 of this year, Justice Bryrum Ongaya of the Employment and Labour Relations Court declared that TSC had breached the intern teachers’ right to fair labor practices because they are licensed teachers and are qualified.
In the decision, Ongaya stated that “the respondents have not exhibited statutory regulatory or policy arrangements that would entitle the first respondent (TSC) to employ interns.”
“Ideally, the first respondent should hire registered teachers on nondiscriminatory terms and to satisfy public school staffing needs as best as possible,” the verdict stated.
Since last year, intern teachers have staged protests across the nation in an effort to obtain improved working conditions.
JSS Intern Teachers Set TSC Confirmation Deadline.
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