President William Ruto’s recent declaration that Junior School intern teachers will only transition to permanent and pensionable (PnP) terms after completing two full years has revived an intense nationwide debate. The announcement, made at Kitui State Lodge, was meant to calm growing discontent among the 20,000 Junior School interns. Instead, it has ignited fresh fears over job security, policy consistency, and the future of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system.
Ruto insisted that the two-year model is a deliberate strategy to gradually address the teacher shortage while absorbing unemployed tutors into the TSC payroll. According to the President, Kenya has more than 300,000 trained teachers outside formal employment, and the internship programme offers them a pathway to permanent jobs.
However, for thousands of interns who have served almost a year under low pay and heavy workloads, the new statement feels like moving goalposts. Many claim that earlier communication from TSC and the Ministry of Education suggested a shorter pathway to confirmation. The two-year rule, they argue, contradicts assurances given when the programme was launched.
The President’s stance has also deepened anxiety within the education sector, with critics saying the prolonged internship period amounts to institutionalised exploitation. Intern teachers handle full teaching duties—lesson planning, classroom management, assessments, and extracurriculars—yet take home less than Sh18,000 after deductions.
Labour unions argue that requiring them to wait two years for confirmation undermines their rights and violates labour standards. KEJUSTA chairperson James Odhiambo has threatened a fresh legal battle, insisting that the programme is “inhumane” and unconstitutional based on previous Labour Court rulings.
Ruto maintains the strategy is essential to fixing the teacher deficit, which once stood at 110,000. He insists that by early next year, the government will have hired 100,000 teachers. Yet TSC data reveals a more troubling reality: Junior School alone faces a deficit of 72,000 teachers, nearly half of all staffing needs.
With schools under pressure, classrooms congested, and teachers overwhelmed, the two-year rule raises new questions: Can the government truly bridge staffing gaps while relying on an extended internship model? And will the promise of future absorption calm growing unrest among interns?
For now, Junior School tutors remain anxious and uncertain. The debate over the two-year rule is far from settled, and the government faces mounting pressure to reconsider timelines, improve working conditions, and restore trust in the transition to PnP.
