CS Mbadi Now Says ‘There is money’ for JSS Teachers Employment
Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi has backtracked on his previous assertion that there were insufficient funds to employ Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
During a Citizen TV interview last Thursday, Mbadi had claimed that the government lacked the necessary budget to hire 20,000 teachers. However, he later retracted this statement, admitting that he had been misinformed about the budget allocation for JSS teachers.
In a follow-up phone interview with Citizen TV on Sunday, Mbadi clarified that those who believed funds were allocated in the budget for JSS teachers were indeed correct.
He acknowledged his mistake, explaining that his earlier communication was misleading and that he should have been clearer.
Mbadi elaborated that while there is a cash crunch affecting the exchequer, making it difficult to pay teachers from July to December, the conversion of JSS teachers to permanent terms, scheduled for January 2025, has already been budgeted for with Ksh. 22 billion allocated.
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“What I should have made clear is that there is money in the budget for conversion of JSS teachers to permanent and pensionable from January 2025 and there is Ksh.22 billion available,” he noted.
Communication with TSC
Mbadi also confirmed that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has been informed of these budgetary provisions.
He reiterated that while the budget for the conversion is secure, his initial comments pertained to the immediate cash flow issues rather than the long-term funding plan.
Unions Announce Strike
The clarification from the Treasury CS comes amid growing unrest in the education sector. The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET) have announced a nationwide strike scheduled to begin on Monday, August 26, 2024.
The unions cited the TSC’s failure to address critical concerns discussed during a meeting held on July 16, 2024, aimed at averting the strike and resolving issues related to teachers’ welfare.
ALSO READ: Anxiety Over School Reopening as Teachers Strike Begins
In a related development, Education CS Julius Migos disclosed that the ministry is grappling with severe funding shortages, which hinder its ability to meet all demands within the education sector.
Migos further escalated tensions by revealing that the government lacks the necessary resources to fully implement phase 2 of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), adding to the challenges faced by the sector.
CS Mbadi Now Says ‘There is money’ for JSS Teachers Employment
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