Over 20,000 intern teachers are staring at a crisis after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) revealed it lacks the necessary funds to absorb them on permanent and pensionable terms.
Appearing before the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Education, TSC Director of Finance Cheptumo Ayabei revealed that the commission was not allocated funds in the 2025- 2026 budget to make permanent employment of the interns.
Ayabei clarified that intern teachers will be required to continue serving in temporary roles for an additional two years, adding that there are plans to recruit an additional 20,000 interns this year.
“As we speak, that funding has not been provided, so these teachers will continue to serve for the next two years or otherwise advised. There’s provision to recruit these teachers, but we are going to recruit 20,000 teachers this year,” Ayabei said.
The revelation raised concerns about the sustainability, with lawmakers questioning the fairness of the internship model.
“When you were recruiting the teachers, was it one year or two years? Because you can’t bring before us a budget that you want to recruit new intern teachers, yet there’s a backlog,” Baringo North MP Benjamin Makilap said.
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The legislators maintained that the TSC’s plan to extend the role of interns beyond one year is against the law, while calling for the confirmation of the educators by December.
In 2023 the government adopted a policy that made it mandatory for interns to serve for two years in all government departments.
This was after TSC had hired a total of 46,000 teachers in 2022 for a one-year internship term, but forced them to renew for another year, promising them confirmation after two-year service.
In the 2025 – 2026 budget TSC has been allocated a total of Sh377 billion for teachers salaries and allowances.
Treasury also allocated TSC Sh7.2 billion for intern teachers’ stipend and employment of another 20,000 intern teachers.
The Teacher Internship Programme is a one-year programme meant to equip and sustain the competencies of persons entering the teaching service.
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