More than 7,000 teachers employed under the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) risk of losing their jobs following a notice by the teachers’ commission.
TSC in a notice on Thursday, May 24, 2024, issued show cause letters to 7, 357 Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers on contract who have been on strike since schools re-opened.
The teachers now risk being sent home with the commission dishing out the letters after receiving data from the counties on the tutors who have been absent due to the strike.
TSC made the move after a meeting at the commission’s headquarters on Wednesday.
In the notice issued by TSC, the teachers were given two weeks within which to respond or have their contracts terminated in the letters copied to regional and county directors of education.
TSC Issues Firing Notice
“It is noted with a lot of concern at you breached the provisions of C Act Schedule Clause (b) in that engaged in professional misconduct by being absent from duty,”
In view of the above, the commission is contemplating termination of your engagement as an intern. Therefore, you’re hereby called up- on to show cause why the internship engagement with the commission should not be terminated,” read the letters in part.
Also Read: TSC to Employ JSS Teachers on Permanent Terms & Ndindi Nyoro
The teachers were issued with the notice having stayed away from school during the strike where they are demanding employment on permanent and pensionable terms following a court ruling in April.
Also Read: TSC to Employ JSS Teachers on Permanent Terms – Ndindi Nyoro
According to the TSC, the teachers who risk losing their jobs are part of the 46,000 recruited in two cycles last year.
If the commission goes on and sacks the teachers, the mass layoffs could paralyze learning in public junior schools.
At the JSS level, only 687 teachers are employed on permanent terms, with about 38,863 teachers being on contract. On the other hand, another 6,000 “interns” are currently deployed in primary schools and 450 in secondary schools.
Commission Responds to strike
The mass layoffs warning came after the Commission asked JSS intern teachers to obey court orders and go back to school in a statement by TSC Chair Dr. Jamleck Muturi on May 14.
Muturi while urging the teachers to return to work explained that the internship program which has been the cause of the strike is a national government initiative aimed at providing practical working experience.
“The attention of the TSC is drawn to media reports on demonstrations by teacher interns. The Commission calls upon the teacher interns engaged under the program to obey the court order and go back to school as teaching and learning in all public schools formally resumed on 13th May 2024,” said Muturi.
The dispute between the tutors and TSC stems from a case that the intern teachers filed at the Employment and Labour Relations Court that decided in their favor by stopping recruitment on contract.
According to the ruling, TSC was found to be capable of hiring teachers on permanent and pensionable terms by the Court.
However, the Commission managed to obtain orders to stay implementation of the judgment until August 1 as it pursues an appeal before Court.
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