Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nancy Macharia has now assured the country that all serving interns will be employed by 2025.

Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Education on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, Macharia assured the serving interns that they would be absorbed on permanent and pensionable terms of service starting January 2025.

“All serving teacher interns will be employed on permanent and pensionable terms of service by January,” she said, noting that the employment forms have already been issued.

In a statement shared by the Parliament, Macharia assured lawmakers that the commission had received Ksh13.4 billion to facilitate the transition of the interns.

In May 2024, the interns held nationwide protests over the failure to secure permanent employment despite a court ruling. The Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled that TSC violated the intern teachers’ right to fair labour practice as they are qualified and possess teaching licenses.

“The respondents have not exhibited statutory regulatory or policy arrangements that would entitle the first respondent (TSC) to employ interns,” Justice Bryrum Ongaya said in the ruling.

However, TSC failed to comply with the ruling, forcing the interns to engage in industrial action. After consultation with their employer, interns resolved to go back to class.

Recruitment report

During the meeting with MPs, the TSC CEO also briefed the MPs on the status of the recruitment process.

Macharia revealed that the recruitment process, which began in early October, attracted a total of 314,000 applicants. 93,646 teachers applied for only 6,000 Primary Schools, 144,177 teachers applied for only 39,550 Junior Secondary School positions, and 76,294 teachers applied for 450 positions in Secondary Schools.

The Commission also outlined its preparedness for the transition to Grade 9 under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), noting that it had recruited 48,550 teachers over the past two financial years. Of these, 39,550 are interns, while 9,000 were employed on permanent terms.

According to documents before the committee, 8,378 Primary School teachers were deployed to Junior Secondary Schools (JSS), raising the total number of JSS teachers to 56,928.

Committee Members directed the TSC to provide detailed reports on the number of unemployed teachers and steps being taken to address staffing shortages, particularly in special needs schools, which reportedly face a deficit of 5,600 teachers.

However, committee members raised concerns about the shortage of science and math teachers and the lack of a clear promotion system.

“It is worrying that we don’t have enough science teachers. What can the country do to incentivize them?” asked Nyamira County MP Jerusha Momanyi, pointing to a shortage of science and math teachers.