Junior School interns threaten prolonged protests over employment status
By Emmanuel Rono, May 6, 2026Junior school intern teachers have held a demonstration, calling for the immediate permanent employment of all 44,000 educators currently serving under the internship programme.
The protesters argued that the stipends they receive are far too low in comparison to the responsibilities they are expected to handle within schools.
Speaking in a presser on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in Nairobi, the tutors have vowed to continue with their demonstrations as they intensify their push for confirmation to permanent and pensionable terms, even as learning disruptions persist in schools for a second consecutive week.
The tutors argue that their situation has worsened amid prolonged uncertainty over their employment status and what they describe as unfair labour conditions.
The intern teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) have now escalated into a formal petition demanding permanent and pensionable contracts after months of uncertainty over their future.
“We are demanding that you kindly confirm the 44,000 interns. We are saying it should be done immediately, and failure to comply with our demand immediately, we are going to be on the street throughout, and there will be no science subjects in those schools,” one of the protesting teachers said.
They also voiced grievances regarding the president, claiming that new teachers are being hired while the current interns are left to struggle on the streets.
Why the strike
Teachers have been expressing a firm refusal to “implement the illegality” by returning to work under their current contracts, stating they will not return to classrooms for the second term until they receive official appointment letters.
According to Isaac Masenge, the Nairobi branch executive secretary for KUPPET, the supplementary budget passed three weeks ago should have provided the necessary funds to confirm these teachers, yet no action has been takenHe warned that the government is at a “dead end” and must move quickly to engage stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education and the unions, to resolve the stalemate before schools reopen.
“Today we are gathered here at the TSC headquarters with our intern teachers to stand in solidarity with them. As we are all aware is that the courts have already declared internship and illegal exercise and we expected that the government through the just concluded supplementary budget of around 3 weeks ago could have featured some money to be able to confirm these teachers,” Masenge said.