Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers in Meru County are up in arms demanding better employment terms and a pay rise, complaining that even President William Ruto was against them.
The teachers, who staged demonstrations in Meru town, accused the government of abusing their services by failing to confirm them as permanent and pensionable after working for two years as interns.
They have vowed not to return to class until the government employs them on permanent terms.
Lewis Kithinji, Secretary General of JSS teachers in Meru, expressed their frustrations over the government’s failure to address their grievances and keep its promise to confirm about 26,000 teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
Without substantiating, they claimed even the president was mistreating them.
“We are tired of being treated badly by TCS and the president, ” Kithinji said.
Kithinji has warned any JSS teacher who will be found working of dire consequences.
The teachers marched to the local Teachers Service Commission (TSC) offices to seek redress, demanding the immediate release of funds by the government for immediate confirmation of interns by the TSC.
“We are not scared of being intimidated but we will continue downing tools and sabotaging learning until the government addresses our plight because we cannot continue offering services while earning peanuts on intern programmes” said Makena, an affected teacher.
The teachers also accused the TSC of using discriminatory methods while employing JSS teachers, calling for transparency and questioning why a 2016 graduate would be placed on an internship while a 2023 graduate is employed on permanent and pensionable basis.
The protesting teachers urged the TSC to respect court orders issued by the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC).
They also called on KNUT and KUPPET to support and push the government to address the issue to pave the way for a smooth learning process.
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By John Majau
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