Inorder to clear the heavy backlog of intern teachers, Teachers Service Commission is expected to commence confirmation process for Senior Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern teachers before 2025.
The confirmation exercise is expected to come earlier this year that will see a good number of intern teachers who renewed their contract for second year getting absorbed into permanent terms as others remaining will get into the system in 2025.
Late last year, 2023, most senior interns were resistant following a new rule from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) which directed them to work as intern for two years before getting confirmation to permanent jobs with benefits.
These teachers tried to argue their cases out saying that the past, all intern teachers only had to work for one year before becoming permanent TSC employees.
The new TSC change on confirmation criteria came as a surprise to many intern teachers who were expecting to be confirmed as permanent employees starting January 2024.
While issuing the new contract extension plan, the commission regretted the necessary shift saying that they hired a lot of intern teachers and the country’s economy faced financial struggle.
In an official meeting with the Education Committee in Parliament, some TSC representative officials explained that all 46,000 teachers currently working as interns will have to wait for two years before becoming permanent and getting benefits like pension.
The representatives made it clear that no teacher will be given a permanent job without completing the two-year internship.
Most intern teachers expressed their dissatisfaction saying that the commission subjects them to low pay,making them demoralized.
Junior Secondary Intern teacher with learners during a lesson ;image/Courtesy
They further argued that current pay doesn’t cover the cost of living.
Poor working environment is another challenge that was paused by these teachers claiming that they lack the basic equipment to facilitate the teaching in in JSS currently hosted in primary schools.
Last year, TSC recruited the largest number of intern teachers with over 20,000 interns employed in February and another slot of 20,000 in August.
The commission further revealed plans to add another 20,000 more intern teachers to support Grade 8 classes in 2024.
