JSS teachers kick off nationwide strike as court now orders them back to class

Learning in junior secondary schools (JSS) around the country failed to kick off for the second term as JSS teachers staged a countrywide protest to demand for employment on permanent and pensionable terms.

Across most towns across the country, JSS teachers boycotted classes, leaving learners who reported back to school on Monday stranded.

Narok, Nyeri, Meru, Nyamira and Machakos counties were among counties where learning was paralysed as teachers marched to demand absorption on permanent basis and a review of their pay.

“We must be compensated we must be confirmed today, tomorrow and in days to come,” said Gikundi Karuti, one of the teachers from Meru.

FRANCIS WANJOHI of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) in Nyeri said, “Hawa ni walimu ambao wamefuzu, wamehitimu, wako na TSC number wako na licences za kufunza; hatuoni vile hawafai kuajiriwa.”

The teachers have been serving as intern teachers for two years.

While they were on the street, the Employment and Labour Relations Court was sitting virtually.

In a case filed by the Forum for Good Governance and Human Rights, Principal Judge Byram  Ongaya set aside its earlier ruling which had declared intern teacher posts as illegal and ordered the teachers to go back to class.

Justice Ongaya, agreeing with the petitioners and giving stay orders to the actualisation of the 17th of April judgement that cited the employment terms of the teacher interns as illegal till the 1st of August this year, to allow for the compromise or re-arrangement of affairs between the conflicting parties.

“The status quo prior to the delivery of the judgement to be maintained pending a compromise or re-arrangement of affairs between parties, or the applicant filling an appropriate application at the court of appeal, and for that purpose in those terms, the status quo be maintained until 01/08/2024,” ruled the court.

The petitioners had argued that the TSC had no financial resources to facilitate compliance with the judgement.

“The commission has no financial resources to facilitate compliance with the judgement, specifically, to convert the 46,000 interns to permanent and pensionable terms of service, as the national assembly did not appropriate the same in the current financial year,” read court papers.