20,000 Intern Teachers Left in Limbo as Treasury and Education Ministries Issue Contradictory Assurances on Confirmation Plan.
The Government of Kenya has issued contradictory statements on the fate of 20,000 junior secondary school intern teachers. The statements have left the interns in limbo on whether they will be converted to permanent and pensionable terms.
In a statement issued earlier in the week, National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said the Government of Kenya has allocated funds to convert all intern teachers to permanent and pensionable (PnP) by January 2026.
Mr John Mbadi added that the Government of Kenya has also set aside resources to recruit 4,000 more teachers at the beginning of the year. He said President William Ruto had promised that the conversion will be done within the specified timeframe.
But Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba issued a separate statement saying the conversion may not happen as planned due to funding constraints.
Mr Julius Ogamba told Members of Parliament that unless the Ministry of Education gets additional resources from National Treasury and Economic Planning, the alternative option being considered is to extend the internship contracts beyond December 2025.
Mr Julius Ogamba’s statement has raised concern from National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula who said his office has received many queries from intern teachers seeking clarity on their contract status.
Intern teachers are earning less than Kshs 18,000 after statutory deductions and have served for almost a year under internship terms doing the same work as permanent and pensionable teachers.
Kenya Junior School Teachers Association (KEJUSTA) Chairperson James Odhiambo said the Government of Kenya should issue a single policy on the fate of the 20,000 intern teachers.
Mr James Odhiambo who was an intern teacher before being confirmed on January 1, 2025 said the Labour and Relations Court has declared the internship programme illegal.
He added that the Government of Kenya should replace the current internship model with a structured teaching practice framework and confirm the teachers to permanent and pensionable terms immediately.
Mr James Odhiambo said confirmation would boost teacher morale and stabilise the Junior Secondary School sector which is still grappling with huge staffing shortages.
He was part of the first batch of Junior Secondary School interns recruited on February 28, 2023 and later confirmed after court proceedings, industrial action and union engagement involving Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET).
According to Teachers Service Commission (TSC) data, Junior Secondary Schools have a staffing deficit of 72,000 teachers despite the recruitment of 56,000 teachers on permanent and pensionable terms and 20,000 teachers on internship terms since 2022. Currently, 83,129 teachers are serving learners in Grades 7, 8 and 9 nationwide.
To address the shortage, the Government of Kenya allocated Ksh 2 billion for the recruitment of 24,000 more interns by January 2026 with a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects where the shortage is most acute.
Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) Deputy Education Director Cornelius Oduor said the reliance on internship programmes is unsustainable and against the labour laws. Mr Cornelius Oduor added that the courts have established that qualified and registered teachers cannot be engaged as interns.
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He further said that the inconsistencies between official statements by different ministries have fiscal and social implications including parents incurring extra costs due to understaffing and poor quality of education.
The situation is similar to what the first batch of intern teachers went through who were only confirmed after legal intervention and industrial action. The current situation has raised concerns that a similar pattern may repeat itself if a unified and funded government position is not taken.
20,000 Intern Teachers Left in Limbo as Treasury and Education Ministries Issue Contradictory Assurances on Confirmation Plan.
