Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern teachers in Kilifi County have threatened to down their tools if the government does not confirm them on a permanent and pensionable basis and compensate them for the period they have served as interns.

Addressing the media during a peaceful demonstration they held on Monday in Kilifi, the intern teachers accused their employer, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), of abuse and violating their rights.

 “What we are asking is for the government to confirm and compensate us for the time we have been under internship. We want TSC to respect the court’s ruling that internship is illegal,” Azani Ngumbao, a JSS intern teacher, said.

The court recently ruled that TSC’s internship program is illegal because giving internship positions to qualified teachers with teaching licences violates their rights to fair labour practice.

He added that the Ksh.20,000 monthly gross salary is not enough to sustain their needs, even more, that it is subject to tax deductions other permanent employees pay.

Ngumbao said more than 1,200 JSS teachers in the county will not report to their duty stations once schools reopen for the second term of 2024.

Andrew Lelei, another JSS intern, said that failure to meet the teachers' needs would only jeopardise the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

He said the curriculum relies on intern teachers to run successfully.

“We as the interns have suffered long enough. They are using us to propel the CBC program and yet we are not in their payrolls. If they do not compensate and confirm us it means this CBC program will be compromised,” Lelei said.

He claimed that some Members of Parliament are handing out employment letters to new graduates and leaving behind older graduates yet to be employed permanently.