A total of 44,000 junior school teachers currently serving on internship terms could all be converted to permanent and pensionable terms after court of appeal declared the TSC internship programme illegal.
TSC and the Ministry of Education are at crossroads on what to do with the teachers who it had promised conversion to permanent and pensionable terms after a two year internship service.
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.
However the teachers employment faces uncertainty over the court ruling which complicates TSC and Ministry of Education earlier plan.
Appearing before the Senate on 11th March, Education Cabinet Secretary said the government is studying the court ruling to determine its legal and financial implications.
“It is true the Court of Appeal has determined that the policy of internship is null and void,” said Ogamba.
“TSC and the Ministry are studying the ruling and are in the process of coming up with steps that are going to be undertaken to esnure that we abide by that court ruling,” he added.
The court had 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.
Intern teachers have previously attempted to petition TSC to compensate them for the period they worked as interns.
A total of 35,505 intern teachers had sought court intervention to stop the programme and demanded compensation for the days worked under internship terms.
The ruling strikes the heart of a programme introduced to plug teacher shortages arising from the rollout of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) which created demand for additional teachers in junior schools.
Ogamba warned the ruling carries a financial cost.
“It may bring some financial and budgetary implications on obeying it and once we determine the extent of the legal and financial implementation we will then move as required to ensure we obey that court ruling,” he noted.
Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua took aim at what he called a discriminatory arrangement.
“The ruling by the court on absorption of teachers as interns, they have TSC numbers and are absorbed as interns, those still learning. It is illegal and discriminatory,” said Wambua.
Critics have long argued that the programme subjected qualified, licensed teachers to temporary, lower paid contracts despite their professional standing.
An intern teachers attached to junior school earns sh 20,000 stipend monthly but gets sh 18,000 net after NSSF, SHA and House levy deductions.
Ogamba defended the junior school deployment framework, telling senators that teachers posted to junior schools are graduate trained and treated as secondary school teachers under career progression guidelines (CPG).
“All teachers in JSS hold training skills, competencies and qualifications for secondary school curriculum delivery,” he added.
He further told senators that appointment letters issued to junior school tecahers designate them as Secondary School Teacher II under the 2018 CPG.
Senators however were not satisfied. Nandi Senator, Samson Cherargei, demanded specifics for funding.
“What are the financial implications and budgetary allocations? You cannot tell us you want to comply with a court ruling without telling us whether in the supplementary budget you have requested funds to cater for this internship and how the transition will happen from intern to permanent and pensionable,” charged Cherargei.
He also flagged disparities among interns, noting that some had served longer than others.
“Some interns will be discriminated against because some have served for two years,” he warned.