More than 700 Junior Secondary Schools teachers in Nyeri County have vowed to paralyze learning in Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) in the region until such a time when the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will hire them on permanent and pensionable basis.
The intern teachers who held a demonstration in Nyeri Streets on Monday said that they would only report to the learning institutions after their employer, TSC, has issued them employment letters and compensated them for the 10 months they were underpaid.
“We have asked our members to stay away from schools until TSC grants us audience and issues us letters indicating that they have hired us on permanent and pensionable terms like the courts ordered,” said Purity Wangeci, the Chairperson, Kenya Junior Secondary Teachers Association (KEJUSTA), Nyeri.
The teachers also expressed their displeasure at the manner in which the government and the TSC was addressing the crisis.
According to Ms. Wangeci, the tutors are appalled that legislators were more versed with their concerns as opposed to TSC which had taken a back seat.
They also wondered why TSC letters were being distributed by Members of Parliament and not by TSC.
“We feel neglected and demeaned because of the TSC’s response to our issues. TSC is yet to invite JSS teachers or their union representatives to discuss the way forward. They promised to hire us in June last year but that turned out to be another empty promise,” she said.
“We are also surprised to see MPs dishing out letters and some are giving us direction that we will be hired in June this year with our employer keeping off from the matter instead of being on the forefront of defending us,” she added.
Her sentiments were echoed by KEJUSTA’s organizing secretary Nyeri Peter Kinyua who said that the 900 JSS teachers in the county would only resume duty with a written agreement from their employer.
On his part, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers Nyeri branch chairman Francis Wanjohi pleaded with TSC to honour the court order directing the Teachers employer to hire the teachers.
He also warned of a possible collapse of the education system should the government urgently fail to address the issues.
Wanjohi blamed the government for rushing to implement a new curriculum without putting in place enough measures to address the human resource.
“First their salary is a pittance compared to the amount of work that these teachers are receiving as a salary of Sh17, 000 not even enough to sustain them through a month. TSC should move with speed and hire them like the courts ordered and then compensate them for the months that they unfairly paid so that we do not disrupt learning in our schools,” said Wanjohi.
By Wangari Mwangi
