Ruto: Why we didn’t hire teachers on permanent terms
President William Ruto on Thursday night defended the government’s decision to hire intern teachers as opposed to permanent and pensionable terms, saying the decision helped in reducing the teacher-shortage in schools.
The president stated that the move helped him kill two birds with one stone, ensuring that as many teachers as possible who have been unemployed for years or earning meagre pay, are absorbed and at the same time students are taught.
According to him, the country has a teachers shortage of 140, 000 while there are about 300, 000 trained teachers, some who are about to retire before being employed by the Teachers Service Commission.
“If I had decided to hire on permanent and pensionable terms, I would have hired about 13, 000 only, so I decided to take the big pool of trained teachers who are unemployed and hire them as interns. By that, I sorted out two problems since I will be having someone who was earning nothing or Sh5000, now getting at least Sh25, 000 and a student who did not have a teacher now having one,” said Dr Ruto.
He pointed out that after two years of internship, the interns will be employed permanently.
The first cohort of teachers on contract was hired in January last year and had their contracts extended for another year at the beginning of 2024.
Few days ago, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos stated that the government has allocated Sh18.7 billion to transition the intern teachers to permanent and pensionable positions in January 2025.
The teachers have been pushing for conversion to permanent terms and in May and June went on strike.
Dr Ruto was speaking during a Town Hall session in Kisumu on Thursday evening where he also slammed trade unions in the education sector for inciting teachers to go on strike despite the government having heeded to their concerns.
He stated that the government adhered to the terms in the Collective Bargaining Agreement and that teachers are to be paid their salaries and arrears on Thursday or anytime from now.
“There is absolutely no justification for someone to tell teachers to go on strike. I want to single out the Kenya Union of teachers for being understanding that once we have sorted out an issue, there is no need for posturing. We need to get down and teach our children,” said the President.
roudia@ke.nationmedia.com
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