8, 000 teacher interns hired, placed on payroll

Some 8, 141 intern teachers have been hired and successfully placed on the Teachers Service Commission payroll, the employer has said.

TSC also announced that another 8, 920 teachers have so far been recruited on permanent and pensionable terms.

Communication from the teachers’ employer said that all the hired teachers have been put on payroll and are earning salaries.

“All these teachers have been already getting salaries and no one has been left out,” said TSC head of communications Beatrice Wababu.

However, TSC said that a total of 2,159 intern teachers are still being processed and will soon be put on payroll. Also still being processed are some 149 teachers for the permanent and pensionable category.

The Commission targeted to hire 10, 300 intern teachers and some 9, 069 on permanent and pensionable terms.

“Some of these pending cases have either one or two documents missing or were not properly filed. Once that is done we shall have all of them on payroll,” said Wababu.

Recruitment of intern teachers was being carried out from the counties and some documents may have been misplaced in the process, it emerged.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Secretary General Akello Misori asked TSC to initiate proper remuneration package for intern teachers.

“Kuppet still does not understand why intern teachers are paid a paltry Sh15, 000 when public servant interns earn Sh25,000,” said Misori.

It emerged that broken down, the interns pay include Sh1, 200 for mandatory personal accident cover.

Another Sh3, 000 is sent to the Higher Education Loans Board and Sh800 sent to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).

Some Sh600 is sent to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and another Sh1, 741 deducted towards Pay as You Earn (Paye).

Intern teachers posted to primary schools earn an average of Sh10, 000, which comes down to about Sh6, 000 after Paye deductions of some Sh1, 116 and the contributions to the NHIF and NSSF.

Misori said Kuppet is engaging TSC on the matter. “We are in talks with the TSC to understand how this is being implemented," said Misori.

Senate Education Committee chaired by Bomet Senator Christopher Langat has summoned TSC leadership to clarify the nature of internship contracts.

Commission Chairperson Lydia Nzomo and CEO Nancy Macharia were set appear before the Senate Education Committee before lock down occasioned by coronavirus.

TSC had lobbied MPs to allocate more cash for teacher recruitment, saying the current 305,568 teachers are not enough to handle the surge in enrollment.

TSC argued that an additional 104,087 teachers are needed to ease the huge workload occasioned by the 100-peer cent transition.

In her presentation to The National Assembly Education Committee, Dr Macharia said that a proposal to hire 65,000 new teachers at a cost of Sh20.2 billion had not been factored in the budget and pleaded with the legislators to intervene.

She said if allocated, the money would be enough to hire 40,000 intern teachers at a cost of Sh4.8 billion.

Another 25,000 teachers would be hired on permanent and pensionable terms at a cost of Sh15.4 billion.

However, only Sh3.2 billion was allocated in the budget to hire both intern teachers and permanent and pensionable teachers.