Teacher Absenteeism On The Rise as TSC Threaten Mass Sackings

Teacher Absenteeism On The Rise as TSC Threaten Mass Sackings

Teacher absenteeism has been on the rise from 5,722, who were recorded as absent on May 14, 2024, to 7,357 recorded on May 17, 2024, while demonstrations have been held in various parts of the country.

However, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kericho, Migori, Turkana, and West Pokot counties recorded zero absenteeism as all the teachers reported to work.

The highest absenteeism was recorded in Mombasa (59.32 percent), Samburu (58.59 percent), Meru (57.87 percent), Tharaka Nithi (57.08 percent), and Isiolo (53.07 percent) counties.

teacher absenteeism has been exuberated by the ongoing Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern strike.

The teachers have stayed away from school demanding employment on permanent and pensionable (PnP) terms following a court ruling last month.

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The commission has promised to convert 26,000 teachers from contract to PnP terms in January 2025.

Most of these teachers are deployed and will have served for two years by the end of the year.

Of the total figure, 4,000 will be primary school teachers, and the other 22,000 will be secondary school teachers. The employer has been allocated Sh8.3 billion for the 2024–2025 budget proposals.

Some 38,863 teachers on contract are deployed to JSS, while only 687 are on PnP terms. Six thousand ‘interns’ are in primary schools, and 450 others are in secondary schools.

The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) last week petitioned the TSC, the National Assembly Committee on Labour, and the National Treasury to resolve the impasse.

The government started recruiting teachers on one-year contracts in 2019 under the ‘internship’ programme.

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The teachers are also not covered under the teachers’ medical scheme and are expected to obtain a personal accident cover.

Intern teachers 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.

Teacher Absenteeism On The Rise as TSC Threaten Mass Sackings

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