TSC Suffers Blow in Hiring of Interns as Teachers in New Court Directive

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has suffered a setback in its bid to employ interns as teachers.

A ruling delivered by the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) pinpointed that the commission cannot hire or engage or hire student-teachers or interns as its mandate is limited to employing only those qualified and registered.

Justice Byrum Ongaya noted that TSC violated the fair labour practice by giving them internship positions while they were qualified and possess teaching licences. 

The judge observed that it is discriminatory to employ qualified teachers as interns while the same institutions have trained teachers who are earning handsomely.

"An employer cannot employ trained and registered teachers as interns to avoid the Act 41 safeguards. Although there is freedom of contract, Act 41 must come into play. Disguising employment to escape the effect of Act 41 cannot pass the chains of social justice in Employment," Judge Byrum stated.

"It is discriminatory to employ qualified and registered teachers as interns on a one-year contract while other qualified and registered teachers are employed as teachers and on fixed contracts upon different terms and conditions," he added.

The ruling came as a setback to TSC which had hired 60,000 on an internship basis to bolster the workforce, especially in Junior Secondary Schools.

Implementation of the orders may cripple the sector upon the reopening of schools in two weeks.

The programme was introduced to plug the teacher shortage that plagued schools in 2023.

However, it is not clear which action TSC will take following the court ruling.