Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers have finally agreed to stop their demonstrations and return to class after staying away since the beginning of the term.
As part of the return-to-work formula, JSS teachers are required to resume their duties while the issue of pay is being addressed. Furthermore, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has agreed to retract the show-cause letters it served on these educators.
The National Governing Council (NGC) of KUPPET praised the efforts made by the National Executive Board in securing funds to convert 26,000 intern teachers into Permanent and Pensionable (PnP) terms. This will involve an expense of Ksh8.3 billion starting from July this year.
However, the union reiterated that the funds should include hiring all interns taken on by the commission in January 2023. Also, Ksh4.68 billion given to the commission must only go towards employing teachers under PnP terms, and more money needs to be added for converting interns hired in September 2023 into PnP agreements.
The union also asked the government to reconsider its previous decision of making JSS part of primary schools, pointing out that the students are not receiving the high-quality education envisioned by the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
JSS teachers have been demanding PnP terms of employment and had gone to demonstrate on the streets. Now it becomes official that they will be attending class from Monday, as a result of the assurances the’ve been given that some of them would be employed on permanent and pensionable terms from July this year.