The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is set to pay teachers February salaries after closing the payroll (TPay) on Tuesday afternoon.
The Commission will start crediting salaries into teachers accounts on Thursday as schools prepare for half term break.
Among those posed to receive payment are 24,000 junior school intern teachers who were employed and posted to school early January.
TSC will pay stipend to the teachers which include arrears for days worked in January but were not paid.
A junior school intern teacher earns a monthly stipend of sh 20,000 but receive around sh 18,000 after SHIF, Housing levy and NSSF deductions.
The teachers who were received in junior schools hosted in primary schools, attended induction programmes organized by TSC.
The programme sensitized the teachers on various TSC legal policies including the code of regulations and code of conduct for teachers.
After induction the STEM and Language teachers will then be retooled by CEMASTEA on the Competency Based Education (CBE) and Competency Based Assessment (CBA).
The teachers were hired on a one year internship term running from 1st January to 31st December, 2026.
The teachers are likely to be converted to pnp in January 2028 after President Ruto said that all government interns including the TSC ones shall be serving for at least two years before they are confirmed on permanent and pensionable terms.
A total of 20,000 junior school interns employed in January 2025 had their contracts which ended on 31st December extended for another one year.
President Ruto assured the teachers of confirmation after completing their two year contract i.e in January 2027.
CS Julius Ogamba in a statement said that government will hire another 16,000 junior school intern teachers this year to support CBE.
The Commission has some benefits for teachers who accept to work as interns which include priotizing their employment when replacement vacancies arise.
TSC awards 50 marks to intern teachers during replacement interviews giving them an upper hand during recruitment.
However the teachers will have new National Social Security Fund (NSSF) deduction in their February payslips.
Currently teachers like other employees contribute sh. 360 each month towards NSSF and the employer is also required to remit the same amount to the kitty.
NSSF is planning to raise this amount in February. The law has set a fixed base of sh 6,000 for all public servants which include TSC teachers. NSSF takes 6% of this base i.e 6% of sh 6,000 = sh 360.
The employer TSC also remit same sh 360. So in total a teacher gets sh 720 in NSSF contribution each month.
However NSSF rates are expected to rise with the base moving from sh 6,000 to sh 9,000 or higher.
If the base becomes sh 9,000: 6% of sh 9,000 = sh 540. This means teachers will pay around sh 540 each month, while TSC contributes the same.
The deduction will be the same for all teachers, largely because it depends on the legal base, and not individual salaries.
The new deduction will affect not only teachers but millions of employees once this fourth and final phase of pension contribution takes effect.