Beginning in June this year, the government plans to hire 20,000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers and promote over 30,000 more.
This was decided at the conclusion of a six-day joint meeting between the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) held at Sawela Lodge in Naivasha.
Omboko Milemba, National Chairman of KUPPET, stated that Ksh. 4 billion would be needed to hire 20,000 teachers to help resolve the JSS crisis nationwide.
He mentioned that 30,000 to 50,000 teachers who had been at a standstill for years would get help in the upcoming fiscal year.
Milemba stated that most teachers had yet to receive promotions since 2017. She added that this issue had been resolved at the Naivasha meeting and that it took effect in June of this year.
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"What the commission needs to ask Parliament, and they promised they have already asked, for them to employ the 20,000 teachers is a total of Ksh.4 billion and we have 26,000 teachers who are supposed to be confirmed to permanent and pensionable, that will cost Ksh.7.8 billion," he said.
"The commission has also promised to look into the issue of those teachers who had got ten presidential decrees of being promoted and ensure they are promoted."
According to Milemba, the government had committed to reexamine the teachers' health insurance.
Akelo Misori, the union secretary general, stated that at least 2,000 20,000 teachers hired by JSS would be assigned to ASAL regions.
He continued by saying that TSC had committed to converting all 26,000 intern teachers hired in 2023 to permanent positions with pensions by January 2025.
Misori claims that TSC has given in to the union's demand that it review the Career Progression Guidelines, which have allegedly contributed to teachers' stagnation, and create new guidelines with input from the general public.
He said the union was happy with the recent promotion of more than 50,000 teachers, noting that an audit had shown problems in only 14 cases.
"The commission has addressed our concerns about the promotion of teachers not in the payroll and explained the remedy for 14 teachers who earned the promotion while not being in the payroll," he said.
The SG voiced the union's displeasure with the inadequate staffing of schools, specifically junior secondary schools, where a mere two teachers per stream were responsible for all subject areas.
Regarding teachers' delayed pensions, Misori stated that TSC and the Department of Pensions collaborated on Administrative Action to expedite the procedures.
