TSC ISSUE DATES FOR 2024 CONTRACT RENEWAL OF P1 AND JSS INTERNS
In order to begin hiring eighth grade instructors and extending contracts for current intern teachers, the instructors Service Commission (TSC) has developed a plan.
The commission plans to recruit and place at least 18,000 JSS intern instructors in classrooms before the start of the new school year in January. After the last KCSE exam is over, we will begin the process of hiring new interns and renewing existing contracts.
Intern teachers now in service, who were initially hired in January, will need to renew their accident cover (insurance) for a twelve-month period. If an intern wishes to continue in their internship position, their contract will be automatically renewed.
Intern instructors will be confirmed on permanent terms by TSC in 2025, a decision that has been met with pushback from educators who are unhappy with the plan’s stipulation that they work in the field for at least two years before receiving permanent, pensionable status.
TSC used to hire intern teachers and then, after a year of service, add them to the permanent and pensionable (pnp) payroll. But the current policy shift is being blamed on the large number of intern teachers the Commission has hired, as well as the difficulties created by the country’s faltering economy.
The Director of Staffing at TSC, Antonina Lentoijoni, and the Director of Legal Affairs at TSC, Calvin Anyuor, testified before the Education Committee in Parliament, claiming that all 46,000 teachers employed on internship terms would be automatically converted to pnp status after completing two years of service. The Commission stresses that no educator will be hired on full-time without first serving as a student teacher for two years.
According to TSC, they employ 46,000 educators throughout all levels of education from kindergarten to 12th grade, including junior high school interns.
Although the Commission stands by its policy of permitting intern teachers to serve for up to two years, many intern teachers report feeling demoralised, in part because their remuneration is not commensurate with the cost of living.
In January of 2022, TSC placed 1,995 intern instructors in classrooms after hiring 20,000 in February and another 20,000 in August.
The number of intern teachers has increased to 46,000 after their contracts were renewed for an additional 4,005 individuals. Starting in January of 2019, TSC will begin actively recruiting an extra 20,000 intern instructors to assist with Grade 8 classrooms. Paid internships at Kenyan primary schools pay Kshs. 15,000 per month, while those in secondary schools pay Kshs. Secondary school interns lose about sh. 3,000 in deductions, while primary school interns lose about sh. 2,000.
