Striking Teachers Risk Job Termination as TSC Issues 7,357 ‘Show Cause’ Letters
Some 7,357 teachers on contract, who have been on strike since schools reopened last week, risk losing their jobs after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) issued them with ‘show cause’ letters Thursday after receiving data from the counties on the absentees.
The decision to send the letters was arrived at after a meeting at the TSC headquarters on Wednesday. The strike has affected learning in many schools.
The teachers are part of the 46,000 recruited in February and September last year and deployed to junior school.
They have been given two weeks within which to respond, failure to which their contracts will be terminated. The mass sackings will further affect learning in JSS in public schools which remain understaffed.
The letters seen by Teachers Updates indicated with concern that the teachers breached the provisions of TSC Act Schedule Clause (b) by engaging in professional misconduct through absenteeism.
Therefore, the commission is contemplating terminating their engagement as interns and has called upon them to show cause why the internship engagement with the commission should not be terminated.
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The letters have been copied to regional and county directors of education. The teachers are employed on one-year contracts, but those hired last year had theirs extended.
Those in primary schools earn a monthly ‘stipend’ of Sh15,000, while those deployed to JSS and secondary schools earn Sh20,000.
However, they take home less since the ‘stipend’ is subject to taxation, including the Affordable Housing Levy.
The dispute stems from a case that the ‘intern’ teachers filed at the Employment and Labour Relations Court, which ruled in their favour by stopping the recruitment on contract.
The court found that TSC can only hire teachers on permanent and pensionable terms and has no power to hire teachers on internship contracts.
The TSC has since obtained orders to stay the implementation of the ruling until August 1, 2024, as it pursues an appeal against the judgment.
The TSC has been allocated Sh4.68 billion to hire 20,000 more teachers on contract. This would bring the total number of teachers recruited by the Kenya Kwanza government to 76,000.
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The manifesto of the coalition promised to bridge the teacher gap, which stood at 116,000 by employing 58,000 teachers at Sh25 billion per year.
The TSC has promised to convert the terms for contract teachers, who will have served for two years, into permanent and pensionable.
If such funds were to be allocated for the purpose, all the teachers would be hired on permanent and pensionable terms.
Striking Teachers Risk Job Termination as TSC Issues 7,357 ‘Show Cause’ Letters
