JSS teachers threaten to strike over confirmation, internship pay by gov’t
Junior
Secondary School (JSS) intern teachers in Kilifi County have threatened to
down their tools if the government does not confirm them on a permanent and
pensionable basis and compensate them for the period they have served as
interns.
Addressing
the media during a peaceful demonstration they held on Monday in Kilifi, the intern
teachers accused their employer, the Teachers Service
Commission (TSC), of abuse and violating their rights.
“What we are asking is for the government to
confirm and compensate us for the time we have been under internship. We want
TSC to respect the court’s ruling that internship is illegal,” Azani Ngumbao, a
JSS intern teacher, said.
The court
recently ruled that TSC’s internship program is illegal because giving internship
positions to qualified teachers with teaching licences violates their rights to
fair labour practice.
He added
that the Ksh.20,000 monthly gross salary is not enough to sustain their needs,
even more, that it is subject to tax deductions other permanent employees pay.
Ngumbao
said more than 1,200 JSS teachers in the county will not report to their duty
stations once schools reopen for the second term of 2024.
Andrew
Lelei, another JSS intern, said that failure to meet the teachers' needs would
only jeopardise the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
He said the
curriculum relies on intern teachers to run successfully.
“We as the
interns have suffered long enough. They are using us to propel the CBC program
and yet we are not in their payrolls. If they do not compensate and confirm us
it means this CBC program will be compromised,” Lelei said.
He claimed
that some Members of Parliament are handing out employment letters to new
graduates and leaving behind older graduates yet to be employed permanently.
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