TSC Recruitment News: When and how TSC Intern Teachers will be absorbed by the Teachers Service Commission on Permanent and Pensionable Terms: Perching it up

TSC Latest News: When and how TSC Intern Teachers will be absorbed by the Teachers Service Commission on Permanent and Pensionable Terms: Perching it up

An Exploration of the Latest TSC Interviews Recruitment Guidelines and Marking scheme

News that the Teachers Service Commission is set to employ 5, 000 tutors on permanent and pensionable terms and 10, 000 on internship terms have made many to wonder about what criteria the Commission will use during the recruitment process.

One of the major mind-boggling questions is whether the Commission will give priority to TSC interns who were employed in December 2019 given the meager pay that they pocket every month.

This is one of the factors that the Teachers Service Commission should consider to avoid frustrating teachers working on TSC internship terms.

They need to feel cared for and appreciated given that their workload is the same as those working on permanent and pensionable terms. The huge disparities when it comes to TSC intern teachers’ salaries prompted a group of lawyers to sue the TSC a few months ago.

Note that a TSC teacher intern earns between KShs 10, 000 and 15, 000 before the mandatory deductions such as NHIF and NSSF are effected.

Some school heads came through for the interns by either increasing their salaries or offering them accommodation to cut down on their expenses while others buried their heads in the sand as usual.

Teachers on permanent and pensionable terms on the other end enjoy better salary perks ranging from Kshs 26, 000 to over 200, 000.

 

Will TSC  Confirm intern teachers on permanent and pensionable terms?

In March 2020, all principals and school heads were directed to collect data on all intern teachers in their schools. Your guess is as good as mine. However, when The Standard misreported those intern teachers had been employed on permanent and pensionable terms, the Commission was very quick to dismiss and rubbish the claims: TSC Disowns Claims that it had confirmed 10, 000 teacher interns

In fact, The Standard was forced to apologize for misinforming the public about the recruitment of 10, 000 interns by TSC on permanent and pensionable terms.

Back to the big question, the Teachers Service Commission is planning to employ 5, 000 teachers on permanent and pensionable terms this number is two times lower than the current number of teacher interns who are likely to apply for the slots.

This, therefore, means that the Commission will have to come up with specific criteria on how to employ the 5, 000 tutors on permanent and pensionable terms.

Going by the current TSC marking scheme used to employ primary and secondary school teachers, more weight is given to the candidate’s year of graduation.

The commission has not altered the scoring areas yet. To encourage those working on an internship basis, the TSC might consider awarding extra marks as it did a few years ago.

My conclusion, there are no clear guidelines on how teachers working on internship terms will be confirmed, yet.

 

Teacher Interns’ Salaries 2020

Furthermore, several pleas emanating from members of parliament, teachers’ unions, and lawyers persuading the Commission to increase intern teachers’ salaries have always fallen on a deaf ear.

Instead of addressing the issue, the Commission claims that it lacks enough funds to facilitate the salary increment for teacher interns.

To add insult upon injury, the commission is planning to employ 10, 000 more interns. It is high time TSC started listening to the woes of intern teachers to avoid demotivating them.