TSC appeals court ruling that halted employment of teachers as interns

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has moved to the Court of Appeal to appeal the ruling of the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) which declared the contracts of intern teachers unconstitutional and unenforceable.

In the notice of motion filed by the commission through its lawyer Allan Sitima dated today April 19, 2024, TSC argues that if the judgment is implemented in full, learning in public schools which is set to resume on April 29, 2024 will be paralyzed, especially in Junior School.

The commission further asserts that it has no financial resources to facilitate compliance with the judgment where it is required to convert 46,000 interns into permanent and pensionable terms since it was not appropriated by the National Assembly in the current Financial Year.

“Learning in all public schools, specifically in the Junior Schools is on the verge of being paralyzed and disrupted as teacher interns will demand full compliance with the judgment in terms of enhanced remuneration and conversion to permanent and pensionable status yet the Commission lacks budgetary provisions to do,” said TSC in the Certificate of Urgency.

Justice Byram Ongaya in his judgment delivered on April 17, 2024 declared that TSC contravened the provisions of the constitution when it recruited and employed duly trained and qualified teachers as inters; and that the rights of fair labour practices and remuneration of teachers who were employed as interns were violated.

Further in the judgment, Justice Ongaya issued an order prohibiting TSC in future from recruiting and employing student-teachers as teachers and recruiting and employing interns as its constitutional and statutory mandate spreads only to the employment of duly qualified and registered teachers.

Little hope for higher pay as CSOs return to work stations

By Roy Hezron

To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke

You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE  and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.

>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories