JSS teachers promise to disrupt classroom instruction.
Teachers at junior secondary schools in Meru County’s Tigania Central and Imenti North have sworn not to start teaching again unless they receive a permanent job offer from the government.
After serving as interns for two years, these teachers protested that the government had not confirmed their permanent and pensionable status. They also claimed that the authorities had misused their services.
The irate educators, led by Gikundi Karutui, expressed their anger at the government’s lack of response to their grievances and its failure to follow through on its pledge to appoint over 26,000 educators to permanent contracts.
Karutui made it clear that they would not be going back to school unless the government acknowledged their permanent terms and paid them for the time they had worked for little pay.
The teachers went to their local Teachers Service Commission (TSC) offices to voice their displeasure with their circumstances and demand clarification and prompt action.
One of the impacted instructors, Carolyne Gakii, emphasized that they could not support their services while getting meager pay through the intern program and declared their intention to go on strike unless their complaints were addressed.
Furthermore, they charged that the TSC had biased recruiting practices when it came to junior secondary school teachers.
In an apparent attempt to expose possible wrongdoing, Karutui demanded transparency from the TSC about the employment process. She questioned the standards that were followed in order to place 2016 graduates on internships while recruiting 2023 grads on permanent, pensionable terms.
Miriti Avezi, speaking for the teachers, urged the TSC to follow Employment and Labor Relations Court orders and to provide an explanation for the departure from the previously established formula for teacher employment based on years of graduation.
They also underlined the commission’s duty to put teachers’ welfare first and demanded a precise deadline for contracts.
In order to ensure a smooth learning environment when schools reopened, the protesting teachers also asked the Kenya National Union of Teachers and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers to support their cause and put pressure on the government to find a solution.
JSS teachers promise to disrupt classroom instruction.
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