The junior secondary school (JSS) intern teachers have threatened to exit the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) after its officials failed to backup their countrywide protests.
Kuppet secretary general, Akelo Misori, and chairman, Omboko Milemba, haven’t come out in public to show their support for the teachers strike which has disrupted learning in some junior schools.
The teachers accuse Kuppet officials of being reluctant to support their quest for confirmation on permanent and pensionable (pnp) terms and are now threatening to opt out of Kuppet membership.
In most counties the Kuppet officials did not take part in the strike. Kuppet nationa officials had only threatened a nationwide strike over challenges with Social Health Authority (SHA) which was addressed after they met SHA CEO Agnes Mwangangi and Health CS Aden Duale.
TSC currently has a total of 44,000 junior school teachers serving on internship terms.
The teachers have vowed to proceed with the strike despite TSC assurance that they will be confirmed upon securing funds.
“Following the Court’s judgment delivered on 27th February 2026, the Commission is actively pursuing the necessary budgetary provisions to facilitate the employment of the 44,000 serving teacher interns on permanent and pensionable terms,” TSC acting CEO Eveleen Mitei had said in a press statement.
“In this regard, the Commission appeals to teacher interns to grant the Government adequate time to mobilize the required resources to support their transition to permanent and pensionable employment”.
Some striking junior school teachers in Eldoret demanded timelines when they are going to be confirmed instead of faint hopes by the Commission.
The teachers got a boost after a Court of Appeal declared the seven year old TSC internship programme null and void.
TSC employed 20,000 intern teachers in January 2025. The teachers who were initially employed on a one year internship contract had their contracts extended for another one year running from 1st January to 31st December 2026.
The Commission then employed additional 24,000 junior school intern teachers and posted them to schools this January to start their one year internship contract.
The court declared the TSC internship programme illegal, saying that can only be done to trainee teachers.
It argued that the teachers termed as ‘intern’ are fully trained and registered teachers and can only be employed as such.
TSC has only been seeking funds to confirm 20,000 junior school intern teachers by January 2027, leaving the fate of the remaining 24,000 in limbo.
President William Ruto has previously stated that all government interns including those in TSC must undergo a two year internship process before they can be employed on pnp.
