The 46,000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers, who were recently con verted from interns to permanent and pensionable staff, are now demanding to be compensated for the time they served in internship.
The teachers have formed an association to agitate for their rights as they seek representation in either the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) or the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet). They are yet to join either of the unions.
The teachers accuse the two lobbies of barring them from participating fairly in their activities so that their grievances can be heard and addressed.
Through the national chairperson of the Kenya Junior School Teachers Association (Kejusta) Omari Omari, the teachers said after their conversion from interns to permanent and pensionable employees, many issues remain unresolved.
The teachers were permanently employed in November by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
“We celebrate the recruitment, but several issues remain unaddressed. Key among them is the deliberate obstruction, by the existing unions for us to participate fairly in the union activities,” Mr Omari said on Monday.
He said failure by existing teacher unions to offer equitable representation for JSS teachers is an injustice.
He at the same time hailed President William Ruto for the investment he has made in the education sector.
“He has hired 46,000 teachers, the highest one-off recruitment in the history of the country...this is a major achievement that should be celebrated,” he said.
“With no union protection, we took to the streets to fight against an injustice. We won, albeit with a lot of intimidation and loss of two years served unfairly as interns,” he said.
On December 10, 2024, during the Knut delegate’s conference in Mombasa, the JSS teachers demanded positions in the giant union. Knut Secretary-General, Collins Oyuu, asked them to be patient as their demands will be discussed.
Mr Omari urged Knut to allow them to join the union, with a demand that at least 500 positions be reserved for them nationwide.
“As JSS teachers, we have faced numerous challenges that remained unresolved due to the lack of union representation. We were advised to form or join a union to effectively voice our concerns. While we have the option to join Kuppet or Knut, we have specific demands that need to be addressed,” said Mr Omari.
