- JSS intern teachers in Trans Nzoia county are concerned that they might marry late due to financial constraints
- The teachers claimed that their current situation is related to the terms under which TSC has engaged them
- They staged a protest in Kitale Town, listing their demands to the government, which they want fulfilled before schools open for the first term in 2026
A section of Junior Secondary School (JSS) interns in Trans Nzoia county are worried that they are getting late to start their own families.
Source: Original
The interns claim that while they are willing and ready to marry, financial constraints have forced them to wait, hoping things will get better.
Why did Trans Nzoia JSS interns protest?
Speaking after holding a peaceful protest on the streets of Kitale Town on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, the frustrated interns lamented that the amount of money the government is currently paying them is too little for them to settle down in marriages.
Led by Albert Kaku, an intern teacher in one of the schools in Kiminini sub-county, they expressed worry that the majority of them may delay getting married if the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) does not convert their employment terms from internship to permanent and pensionable.
“Some of us are willing to marry, but we do not have the financial capacity to do so. We are worried that we are getting late, and time waits for no one,” Kaku told TUKO.co.ke.
George Njuguna, a science teacher, accused the government of subjecting them to captivity by paying them as though they were people without any formal qualifications.
“The minimum wage in this country is KSh 15,000. Paying a graduate who spent four years in university KSh 17,000 is total slavery,” Njuguna stated.
Similar sentiments were shared by Scholastic Ireri, who claimed that the government’s deliberate delay in confirming them is meant to make them suffer.
“If we cannot marry, it means we cannot have children of our own, and that means there cannot be continuity of generation,” Ireri said.
Will JSS interns hold strike in January 2026?
The JSS teachers have now threatened to down tools when schools reopen in January 2025 for the first term, should the government fail to confirm them as soon as their contracts expire.
Source: Original
The intern teachers were in the company of officials of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), who noted that it was illegal for the government to engage licensed teachers on an internship basis.
Over 20,000 teachers are currently engaged by TSC. Their internships started in 2025.
Are JSS interns teaching wrong subjects?
Previously, TUKO.co.ke reported that some JSS teachers had claimed they were being forced to teach subjects they were not trained in college.
One of the teachers trained to teach English said she had been assigned Integrated Science, consisting of Physics, a subject she noted she dropped while she was in Form Two.
The teachers also raised concerns over confusion and frustrations in their work environments. JSS teachers have been demanding autonomy and career progression.
Proofreading by Asher Omondi, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
