Naema Celestine 
Dinah Mukalo
With an allocation of 656.6 billion shillings, the education sector was among the sectors that got the lion share of budgetary allocations for the financial year 2024 to 2025.
The allocation includes 358.2 billion shillings set a side for the teachers service commission whose key priorities include the hiring of JSS teachers. National treasury proposed an allocation of 13.4 billion shillings for conversation of 46 thousands JSS intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms.
The allocation is an addition to the 8.3 billion that had earlier been proposed by the budget and appropriations committee which targeted 26 thousands teachers while the news may have been a relief to the JSS teachers who until recently were on strike demanding better pay conversion of their contracts to permanent and pantiable.
The figure contained the budget proposal read by the national treasury, cabinet secretary Njuguna Nduku was about 5billion shillings less than what the chair of the national assembly Ndindi Nyoro has stated.
This is how to effectively utilize the current allocation to find us the new terms for the JSS teachers under the current terms as the JSS intern teachers on a one year contact gets a 20 thousands sh monthly stipend but takes home only 17 thousands sh after statutory deductions. But if converted to permanent and pensionable the JSS teachers will now start with the basic salary of about 30 thousands shillings and allowances.
The teachers want the supplementary budget to factor in the deficit, to accommodate all the 46 thousands intern teachers in employment.
In the meantime, pressure is also mounting on teachers employer, to reinstate the 742 JSS intern teachers whose contracts were terminated on grounds of professional misconduct.
