JSS Teachers to Wait Longer as Treasury Pushes Employment to 2025

The government has announced that Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers will have to wait longer to get the much awaited permanent and pensionable terms - with recruitment set to begin in January 2025.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi intimated that there is no budget to employ JSS teachers immediately, but there will be funding come January.

The CS reassured the teachers that despite the previous challenges that delayed their hiring process, the funds were now in place to start recruitment by January 2025.

Read also: Thousands of Teachers Unable to Apply TSC Job Vacancies

‍
“There was no money to immediately employ JSS teachers, but there is money to employ them from January; we have the budget. It is there,” said the CS.

In May, JSS teachers staged a 3-week nationwide strike that disrupted learning in schools. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) attempted to sack the striking teachers but later withdrew termination letters, and agreed to hire them on a permanent and pensionable basis from July 2024. 

The government also set aside Ksh177 billion for the recruitment of 46,000 JSS teachers - with the cash set to be raised through new revenue sharing measures in the Finance Bill of 2024.

The Finance Bill of 2024 was later withdrawn after nationwide protests over the tax measures it proposed, prompting the government to withdraw the extra funding given to TSC for the hiring of JSS teachers. 

Read also: Prices of Bread, Milk, & Maize Flour to Rise as Govt Announces New Tax Policy

The move, however, resulted in a fresh standoff with teachers threatening a nationwide strike over the cut spending - forcing the government to once again commit to hiring the JSS tutors on permanent and pensionable terms. 

In September, the TSC had announced 46,000 job vacancies of which 39,000 of them were reserved for JSS teachers. However, thousands of teachers  experienced technical errors while applying for the jobs.

‍