Junior secondary School teachers in Meru county have vowed not to return to class until the government employ them on permanent and pensionable terms .
The teachers who staged demonstrations in Tigania Central and Imenti North sub – counties accused the government of abusing their services by failing to confirm them even after working for two years as interns.
Speaking to journalists, Tigania Central teachers led by Gikundi Karuti decried failure by the government to keep its promise to employ about 26,000 teachers on permanent basis.
“We are not going back to class unless the government compensates us for the time we have worked while being underpaid and confirm us on permanent terms,” said Karuti.
The aggrieved teachers who marched to their various area Teachers Service Commission (TSC) offices to seek an audience, demanded immediate release of funds by the government for confirmation of interns by the TSC.
“ We are not scared of being intimidated. We will continue downing tools and sabotaging learning until the government addresses our plight because we cannot continue offering services while earning peanuts,” said Carolyne Gakii one of the affected teachers.
They further accused the TSC of using discrimination method while employing JSS teachers .
“We want TSC to be clear on the formula they are using to place a 2016 graduate on internship and employ a 2023 graduate on Permanent and Pensionable basis. We want to know if this is not corruption ” said Karutui an affected teacher .
At the same time they urged the commission to respect court orders issued by the Employment and Labour Relations Court.
“TSC used to emply based on year of graduation, why is this not happening now?” Posed another teacher Miriti Avezi.
They added that the TSC should come clear on the time frame for the contract, adding that the commission was ignoring teachers’ welfare.
Efforts to reach the TSC to respond to the teachers’ concerns were not successful.
The protesting teachers who came out in large numbers also called on Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) to push the government on addressing the issue to pave way for smooth learning process upon school reopening.
Am also affected teacher and I appeal to the government and TSC to employ Jss interns on permanent and pensionable terms