All intern teachers will be hired on a permanent, pensionable basis by the Teachers’ Service Commission in 2022.
The cohort will be absorbed in the ongoing teacher recruitment as the government looks to hire 35,550 teachers this month to close the teacher-student ratio deficit, according to a memo from the commission’s interim director of staffing, Joseph Mugele.
“The interviews for the exercise commence on Friday, January 13, and recruitment documents are scheduled for February 6,” reads the memo dated January 11, 2023.
Mugele therefore asked the head of human resources to keep the interns on the payroll.
The aim of this memo is to propose that none of the teacher interns for 2022 be removed from the payroll while their applications for employment on permanent and pensionable conditions of service are processed, he said.
After TSC CEO Nancy Macharia disclosed the commission was short 114,581 teachers in October, President William Ruto stated that the recruitment of the 35,550 teachers is the first step in absorbing a planned 116,000 teachers.
TSC highlighted last month that 10,000 of these would be hired on long-term, pensionable contracts while the remaining 25,550 would be on an internship basis.
The remaining 9,000 of the 10,000 teachers would be dispersed among the primary and secondary schools, respectively.
In terms of the interns, there are 21,550 slots set aside for junior secondary schools, and the remaining 4,000 will be sent to primary schools.