The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in Kenya has terminated the contracts of 742 junior secondary school teachers following mass protests demanding permanent employment. The protests, which began on May 13 when schools reopened for the second term, involved intern teachers across the country.
On May 22, the TSC issued show-cause letters to 10,348 teachers who had absconded from their duties, requiring them to explain their absence within two weeks. Out of these, 9,606 teachers responded within the stipulated period. However, 742 teachers did not report to work or provide satisfactory explanations for their absence, leading to the termination of their contracts.
The 742 dismissed teachers represent 1.6% of the total 46,000 intern teachers contracted by the TSC. The Commission highlighted that the terminations were due to “professional misconduct,” specifically deserting duty from May 13, 2024, onward.
Termination letters, dated June 6, 2024, and seen by the media, indicated that the teachers were dismissed for not fulfilling their professional obligations. The letters stated, “The Commission has decided to terminate your Internship engagement with effect from June 6, 2024, on the grounds that you engaged in acts of professional misconduct in that you deserted duty with effect from May 13, 2024, to date while engaged as an Intern teacher.”
The TSC emphasized that it carefully considered the responses received from the intern teachers but found some of them unsatisfactory, leading to the decision to terminate the contracts of those who did not report back to work or provide valid reasons for their absence.