Nairobi Junior Secondary School Interns have said they will not report to work in January 2024 if the Teachers Service Commission fails to address concerns they have raised over their contracts.
The teachers said if TSC fails to relook the terms of their contracts, permanent and pensionable JSS teachers will join them in the strike come next year.
The Nairobi JSS intern teachers spoke on Friday at KUPPET offices along Mombasa road where they met to hold peaceful demos seeking new contracts under permanent and pensionable terms.
"We inform the government through the Ministry of Education and TSC, failure to implement the above before December 31, 2023, all junior secondary school intern teachers, Permanent and pensionable teachers across the republic of Kenya will down their tools come January 2024," they said.
The teachers have said none from the first cohort will renew their internship contract except the signing of confirmation letters on permanent and pensionable terms.
The teachers said the contracts they were given came with a stipend of Sh20,000 and only Sh17,000 is left after deduction.
The teachers now want TSC to harmonise the monthly stipend for junior secondary school intern teachers to that of interns in other government ministries between Sh25,000 and Sh30,000 due to the high cost of living.
"Are teachers lesser civil servants?" they posed.
The teachers feel there is a discriminatory employment policy.
They want TSC to explain why intern secondary teachers in junior secondary are being denied a chance to apply for teaching positions in senior secondary schools yet they’re of the same qualifications.
"Why has the Teachers Service Commission since Feb 2023 never openly advertised for teaching positions in Senior secondary?" they posed.
The teachers said they were promised permanent and pensionable terms by mid this year but TSC now says that will come in 2025.
