The Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern teachers from Uasin Gishu County are now calling on the government to permanently employ all 44,000 teachers currently under the internship program, terming the arrangement illegal.
The teachers are also demanding full autonomy in the management of JSS institutions, arguing that they are still operating under the primary school system, which they say has led to administrative challenges.
According to the teachers led by Richard Mibei, Deputy Secretary KUPPET, Uasin Gishu, the pointed out that the current leadership structure limits their ability to make independent decisions and negatively affects the delivery of quality education to JSS learners.
They have also raised concerns over the shortage of resources in schools, noting that JSS teachers are forced to compete for facilities and materials with their primary school counterparts an issue they say is straining effective teaching and learning.
“We are doing the same work as fully employed teachers, yet we lack job security. We want the government to recognize us and offer permanent employment. We also need full autonomy for JSS to improve our performance.” he said.
The teachers have now issued a two-week ultimatum to the government to address their demands, warning that failure to act will result in a nationwide strike.
“We are the people who are in classrooms, we are the ones taking care of education system. Why is the government not confirming us? internship is illegal,” lamented Lucy Gitau, JSS Teacher.
“Up to now, I want to confirm that in most of these public junior secondary schools, lab apparatus and equipment which are very important for delivery of CBE content, despite the fact that the government is pumping billions of money. To help those learners, let junior secondary school be a stand-alone level of education,” noted Kennedy Tarus, JSS Teacher.
Anthony Hosea, a Youth Representative for KUPPET Uasin Gishu branch expressed displeasure that even as they are going to down their tools paralyzing learning across the country, the one who will be suffering is that parent or that student of a Kenyan hustler as opposed to those from well to do families who study in private.
By Ekuwam Sylvester
