The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is seeking for an additional Ksh30.4 billion to be able to confirmed 46,000 interns on permanent and pensionable basis, as well as procure insurance for the teachers.

In a document submitted by TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia to the National Assembly’s Education committee, chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, of the Sh30.4 billion, Sh13.8 billion is for the employment of the 46,000 interns on permanent and pensionable terms from January 2025.

Out of the 46,000 teachers, 21,550 are junior secondary school teachers, 4,000 are primary school tutors hired in February 2023, 18,000 are junior secondary interns while 2,000 are primary school interns brought on board in September 2023.

 “The revised allocation (Supplementary Two) falls short of the commission’s personnel emoluments requirement by Sh30.4 billion,” the document reads.

The move comes after Education CS Migos Ogamba last year confirmed that the 46,000 Junior Secondary School teachers would be absorbed on permanent and pensionable terms beginning January this year. The CS stated that the confirmation is one of the promises he made to the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).

The employment of intern teachers was introduced to plug teacher shortage in schools and gathered pace as a crash programme to provide teachers for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS).

 “We will also add another 20,000 teachers in JSS to ensure we have sufficient staff so that our students receive the best education,” Ogamba said.

Health cover

The document before the House shows that Sh9.3 billion will be used as contributions to the medical health insurance group life cover for teachers, Sh4.3 billion is for exchequer not released for the financial year 2023/2024 while Sh3.06 billion is required to address budget gaps for the same financial year.

TSC in 2015 signed a Sh53 billion medical insurance contract with Minet Medical Insurance Brokers for provision of medical services for teachers and their dependents to enable them access unlimited outpatient and inpatient services in select health facilities.

They were also to enjoy annual maternity services cover of Sh120,000, optical cover of Sh60,000 and a dental cover of up to Sh40,000.

In the first-year, the contract ran from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023 at a cost of Sh14.89 billion.

In the second year, the contract ran from December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024 where the insurance firm is expected to pocket Sh17.93 billion, while in the third year, which commenced on December 1, 2024 up to November 30, 2025 the insurer will pocket Sh20.668 billion.

At the same time, the State department for Basic Education requires an additional Sh22.6 billion to be able to carry out its functions.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang revealed that of the money, Sh3.9 billion is required to cater for the targeted 2.6 million learners yet only Sh900 million was allocated in the supplementary estimates (SE).

“The budget requirement for the second term 2025 academic year (65 days) is Sh3.4 billion. This budget will cater for all categories of learners under the programme. However, Sh900 million has been proposed as additional allocation under SE II. Thus, the basic minimum additional budget to cater for second term and the pending bill of Sh1.4 billion is Sh3.9 billion,” the PS explained.

Additional funding

The free day junior secondary school education, Kipsang said, will require additional funds of Sh16.10 billion to facilitate all learners in public junior schools.

He explained that the capitation requirement for junior schools for Grades 7,8 and 9 is Sh46.5 billion including the Special Needs Education of Sh453 million to cater for the increased enrolment of 3.2 million learners from January to June, which is an increase from 2.1 million learners between July to December last year.

“The initial allocation did not consider learners joining Grade 7 in January 2025. Learners are facilitated at the rate of Sh15,042 and a top up of Sh35,730 for learners with special needs and disabilities,” he said.

The Kenya National Examination Council, he said, requires a budget of Sh742 million to be used in supporting the council non-discretional expenses, board expenses and to meet the deficit under personal emoluments.

He regretted that the council was mistakenly categorised among Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs) that are required to meet their expenditures through respective Appropriation-In-Aid (AIA) and thus received zero allocation.

He also disclosed that they require Sh300 million to pay pending bills under the ICT integration in schools.