Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi stated that no funds have been allocated for hiring Junior Secondary School (JSS) teacher interns on permanent and pensionable terms. In a TV interview on Thursday, August 22, 2024, Mbadi explained that integrating 20,000 JSS teachers into permanent positions would necessitate budget adjustments, which the government is not prepared to make at this time.
This announcement follows recent assurances from President William Ruto that the JSS interns would be absorbed into permanent roles by the end of the year.
“We don’t have resources to recruit JSS teachers on permanent and for the additional 20,000 that was reduced in the estimates. There is a shortfall of about Ksh13 billion,” Mbadi said, “There is no money availed for conversions unless we do budget adjustments which we really don’t have space for.
This year has been challenging. We really had to look around and see how we can raise the money we made available for teachers for their salary adjustments.”
Ruto’s promise to JSS interns
In July, Ruto promised that the over 46,000 JSS interns would be absorbed on permanent and pensionable terms despite the revenue shortfalls occasioned by the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024.
“I want to tell all our JSS teachers that despite the challenges we have with the Finance Bill, we are going to make sure that we confirm all teachers before the end of this year to ensure they serve under permanent and pensionable terms as we agreed,” Ruto said on July 10, 2024, while in Kajiado County.
The fate of the Junior Secondary School (JSS) interns remains uncertain following a High Court decision that favored the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC). The court ordered the TSC to maintain the interns on their current contracts. TSC had argued that a previous ruling by the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) disrupted their budgetary plans, stating that there were insufficient funds to permanently absorb all 46,000 JSS interns.
This situation comes ahead of a planned strike by teachers’ unions set to begin on Monday, August 26, 2024, coinciding with the reopening of schools. Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi highlighted that the government has been actively seeking funds to address the teachers’ demands, including the employment of 20,000 JSS interns, which was among the issues leading to the planned strike.
