JSS Teachers Sign Deal With TSC to End Strike: Details
Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers have ended their three-week strike after signing a return-to-work agreement. They had stopped working to demand permanent and pensionable employment.
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), which brokered the truce, announced that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will hire the teachers on a permanent basis in the next financial year.
As a result of this agreement, classes will resume on Monday, June 3.
Acting as mediator, Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori reported that the union and the TSC had decided to withdraw all show-cause letters issued to the striking teachers.
The union pointed out that the JSS teachers did not belong to a union and therefore could not engage in collective bargaining.
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Misori explained that punishing teachers for participating in legitimate industrial action would be counterproductive to stability in the education sector.
He added that Kuppet would lobby Parliament for an allocation of Sh8.3 billion to convert 26,000 trainee teachers to permanent and pensionable terms in July this year. This amount should cover all intern teachers hired in January 2023.
Recruitment
In addition, Kuppet demanded that the Sh4.68 billion set aside for new recruitment be used exclusively for permanent and pensionable employment.
They also called for additional funds to convert the second cohort of teachers, hired in September 2023, to permanent terms.
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Meanwhile, a quiet battle has been ongoing between Kuppet and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) to attract JSS teachers to their unions, aiming to increase their membership.
The 39,550 teachers assigned to JSS represent a significant boost to any union’s membership, along with the monthly union dues paid by members.
JSS Teachers Sign Deal With TSC to End Strike: Details
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