Basic Education Principal Secretary (PS) Dr Belio Kipsang has assured parents that learning in Junior Secondary School (JSS) has not been affected by intern teachers downing their tools since schools reopened on May 13, 2024.
The PS said the government is concerned about disruption of learning, and has engaged other teachers to take over the teaching roles from the interns.
“Intern teachers are not the only teachers; we have teachers that have adequate experience…we have a backup system and our children are learning,” he said.
Speaking at Moi Girls Nairobi yesterday after launching the 2024 schools census, he told the striking teachers to be patient.
“They are for sure jumping the gun. They should be slightly patient…they will have arrived where they were going… this is a journey they need to be sure of the destination and focus on the destination,” the PS said, noting that the internship is taking two years and will automatically take them to permanent and pensionable terms.
The PS pointed out that the government has allocated funds in the 2024/2025 budget to the confirmation of the interns.
The teachers have continued with their strike in some parts of the country as their employer Teachers Service Commission (TSC) threatened to sack them if they do not resume work.
The teachers began street demonstrations just before schools reopened for second term after a court ruled in April that the internship is illegal. TSC, however, appealed and obtained stay orders allowing it to continue giving internships until August 1, 2024.
The strike has received some support from Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), but Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has kept off the demonstrations, preferring instead a diplomatic approach.
The government requires Ksh30 billion to employ all the intern teachers, TSC maintaining it has been allocated Ksh8.6 billion, which is enough only for 26,000 interns in January.
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By Obegi Malack
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