The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) have reached a consensus to advance more than 30,000 educators who have remained in the same position for over seven years.
Additionally, the TSC plans to recruit an additional 20,000 teachers to alleviate the shortage in Junior Secondary Schools (JSS). This joint effort is projected to incur a cost of over KES 7.8 billion to the government.
KUPPET National Chairman Milemba Omboko said that of the 50,000 teachers who had stagnated for years, 30,000 would benefit in the coming financial year and stressed that since 2017, the majority of teachers had not been promoted adding that the Naivasha meeting had resolved this with effect from June this year.
He stated that an amount of KES 4 billion would be necessary to hire 20,000 teachers, which would greatly assist in resolving the crisis in junior secondary schools nationwide. Alongside key union representatives, Omboko mentioned that the government had committed to reviewing the medical coverage for teachers.
“The government will look at the implementation of new Group Life Cover, Group Personal Accident Cover and Work Injury Benefits insurance for teachers as part of the medical scheme,” he said.
In his statement, the union’s secretary general, Akelo Misori, noted that out of the 20,000 teachers to be hired for junior secondary schools, 2,000 would be assigned to arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) regions. He mentioned that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) had agreed to transition all 26,000 intern teachers recruited in 2023 to permanent and pensionable positions by January 2025.
The secretary general voiced the union’s worry regarding the inadequate staffing in schools, particularly in Junior Secondary Schools where only two teachers were presently responsible for teaching across all subjects within a class.
Regarding the delayed pension payments for teachers, Misori mentioned that the TSC was collaborating with the Department of Pensions to expedite administrative procedures for pension processing.
