Kuppet shows anxiety about JSS’s future following the decision on intern teachers.
The Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is in danger of dying, according to the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), since the court banned hiring teachers for internships.
Kuppet administrators praised the court’s judgment but stated that the Junior Secondary School (JSS) is in a precarious situation because it may imply that the students’ teachers are removed from their positions.
The union has recommended that the Teachers Service Commission change the interns’ contract to a permanent, pensionable one rather than appealing the Employment and Labour Relations Court’s (ELCR) ruling.
On Thursday, Secretary-General Akelo Misori made the following statement at the Kuppet offices in Nairobi: “We urge the TSC not to appeal the judgement but to work with Kuppet and other stakeholders in thinking through legal and just means to bridge the deficit in teaching service.”
“Teachers who are qualified could not be categorised in this manner,” he stated.
On Wednesday, Justice Bryrum Ongaya declared that TSC had infringed upon the intern instructors’ right to fair labor practices because they are licensed teachers and are qualified.
“The first respondent (TSC) would be entitled to hire interns if the respondents had demonstrated statutory regulatory or policy arrangements.” According to Justice Ongaya, “ideally, the first respondent should hire registered teachers on nondiscriminatory terms in order to meet the best staffing needs in public schools.”
Misori charged TSC with being politicized and failing to carry out its duties as a separate state organization.
“So when they were engaged in this casual manner in the determination of internship, it is a real indictment that it (TSC) lost its independence and therefore followed other tracks,” he stated.
In order to break the impending impasse in the education sector, he threw down the gauntlet to the commission: work with the Legislature to secure additional funding.
“It is now a choice for the government and TSC to delve into this matter and ask for funding to employ 20,000 teachers on PnP because that’s the legal mandate of the commission,” Misori added.
The court decision was also praised by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) as a major win for intern teachers.
Collins Oyuu, the secretary general of Knut, stated on Wednesday that “the issue of interns has been a thorn in the flesh much as it was a stop-gap measure, which we actually support. It is prudent that these teachers become permanent and pensionable especially those who have proceeded for a whole year on internship.”
The National Parents Association (NPA), however, has voiced its concerns on the decision.
The parents back the president’s original instruction to extend the intern teachers’ contracts by an additional year, according to NPA chairman Silas Obuhatsa.
President Ruto stated in December of last year that the interns must labor for an additional year if they are to be considered for employment. Originally, the interns had been promised a revision of their contract to Permanent and Pensionable terms and the end of their first year of service.
Right now, we are unable to comment. TSC may potentially appeal the court decision, thus we are still without a voice. We shall follow the President’s instructions, in our opinion,” Obuhatsa stated to The Standard.
He conveyed assurance that instruction won’t be disrupted because TSC hasn’t pulled the intern instructors out of the classroom.
This occurred on Wednesday, when the intern teachers who are paid by TSC announced that they would be filing a lawsuit to force their employer to reimburse them for the time they have worked in arrears.
The intern teachers, represented by Boniface Omari as their spokesperson, blasted the commission during a press conference in Nairobi for not compensating them for the fifteen months they had worked there.
“We’re taking the TSC to court to get paid for the period we worked there unpaid. We should receive the Sh26 billion that the Commission owes us right away, stated Omari.
“We want the government to pursue the commission to fully comply with the court decision that teachers bearing similar qualifications should receive equal pay,” he stated.
The foundation of the CBC implementation, particularly at the junior school level, has been the intern teachers.
Between August 2022 and August 2023, the administration of President William Ruto hired 56,000 intern teachers, who were important in carrying out the JSS program, which had its inception two years prior.
Two intern instructors were assigned to educate junior school students in every school in the nation, a small quantity that education experts claim jeopardizes the standard of instruction.
To overcome the teacher-to-student ratio gap, TSC has announced plans to hire 20,000 extra instructors on an internship basis.
Kuppet shows anxiety about JSS’s future following the decision on intern teachers.