The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has recruited a total of 54,300 teachers on internship basis since 2019 when it started engaging teachers on internship terms, though the exact numbers of those who were absorbed on permanent and pensionable terms is not revealed.
According to the data released by the TSC during the 2019/2020 Financial Year, the Commission recruited a total of 10,300 intern teachers while in the 2020/2021 FY another 12,000 was recruited.
In the 2021/2022 FY the Commission recruited a total of 6,000, being the lowest number recruited since the inception of the internship policy, while during the 2022/2023 FY the Commission recruited the highest number of teacher interns since the inception of the policy at 26,000 teachers.
This July 2023 the Commission advertised a total of 20,000 paid internship posts for teachers in public primary and Junior Secondary Schools which are domiciled in the primary schools, whose application deadline was July 10, 2023.
This will now bring the total of intern teachers recruited by the Commission since 2019 to 74,300 teachers.
Of the 20,000 intern teachers who will be recruited in this 2023/2024 FY, 18,000 teachers will be deployed to public Junior Secondary Schools while 2,000 intern teachers will be deployed to Public Primary Schools, to support the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Since 2019, the Commission has been engaging teachers on a year-paid internship program with those deployed in primary schools being entitled to a monthly stipend of Ksh.15, 000 while those attached to secondary and JSS be eligible for a monthly stipend of Ksh.20, 000.
On successful completion of the internship program, teacher interns are normally awarded a certificate or given upper priority during the Commission’s mass recruitment with a move of absorbing them into permanent and pension terms.
For instance, during the 2021 mass recruitment, the Commission gave interns an edge in the recruitment of permanent employees of the Commission by increasing the marks of interns from 10 to 30 in the hiring process, a move that was seen as literally locking out those who have never had a chance to work as apprentices but still possess the appropriate credentials.
However, the Commission keeps on changing the criteria whereby during the 2022 recruitment, it was now pegged on the years in the contract whereby those who had served for three (3) years as interns were awarded the whole 15 marks, two years of internship awarded 10 marks while those who were serving their first year of the internship were awarded only 5 marks.
By Our reporter
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