The much-awaited permanent employment of the 46, 000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) teacher interns now hangs in balance.
This is after Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u proposed a significant budget cut of Sh18.9 billion allocated to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for the purpose.
The reduction, Ndung’u said, is aimed at curbing the country's budget deficit of Sh200 billion following a decision by Kenya Kwanza MPs to remove some of the tax proposals in the Finance Bill, 2024.
According to Ndung’u, the planned confirmation of the interns under permanent and pensionable terms and the hiring of new JSS should be deferred.
The decision is now a big blow to the TSC and the teachers who have been eager to be confirmed after several months of contention, including a strike, layoffs, and court battles.
Although the government had allocated Sh13.4 billion for the purpose, TSC had originally estimated that Sh16.6 billion would be needed to complete the conversion, resulting in a substantial funding gap.
National Assembly Education Committee was scheduled to meet TSC Wednesday over the matter.
Last week, the Court of Appeal put on hold plans to employ 46,000 intern teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
Justices Asike Makhandia, Sankale Ole Kantai and Ngenye Macharia suspended the orders issued by the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) requiring TSC to convert the internship to permanent and pensionable terms.
The interns will now have to continue working as interns until the case filed by the Nancy Macharia-led commission is heard and determined.
In the application, TSC claimed that the orders by Justice ELRC threw its plans into disarray as the money required to hire the intern teachers on permanent and pensionable terms was not budgeted for.
"The rights of all learners in public schools underpinned under Articles 43 and 53 of the Constitution are on the verge of being violated as the Commission has no financial resources to on-board the 46,000 on permanent and pensionable terms and conditions," argued TSC lawyer Allan Sitima.
The new measures announced by the CS are contained in a letter to the clerk of the National Assembly dated June 19.
It also affects the three arms of government including ministries, departments and agencies.
