Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has said that it immediately requires Sh25 billion to hire 12,000 intern teachers ahead of full reopening that is slated for January 2021.
If 12,000 interns will be hired, it will bring to 23,574, the total number of teacher interns hired since last year.
In the current financial year, the commission received a budget of Sh2.5 billion to employ 5,000 teachers.
According to the reports by The Standard, TSC requires Sh17 billion to hire some 26,000 teachers to manage high schools enrolment under the 100 per cent transition. It also needs Sh8.1 billion annually to hire 12,500 teachers to plug the normal shortage.
While appearing before parliamentary education on committee, TSC boss Macharia told MPs that the Commission had planned to employ 12,500 teachers annually in a span of five years to plug shortage in the country.
Macharia noted that the target is yet to be achieved due inadequate budgetary allocation.
She siad: “However, this target has not been met due to inadequate budgetary provisions.”
Under the Economic Stimulus Programme, the commission was allocated a further Sh2.4 billion funds to engage 12,000 interns.
Stipends of interns
According to the contractual agreement in current internship programme, interns recruited to teach Secondary are entitled to a monthly stipend of Ksh. 15,000, however due to statutory deductions, the teacher only take home Ksh. 10,000.
The statutory deductions include Sh1,200 for mandatory personal accident cover, sh3,000 for HELB loan(only those who benefited), sh800 for National Hospital Insurance Fund(NHIF), sh600 for National Social Security Fund(NSSF) and sh1741 for Pay as You Earn(PAYE).
Those posted to primary were entitled to sh10,000 but after statutory deductions like NSSF, NHIF and a PAYE of sh 1,116 the teacher takes home sh6,000.