Win for TSC as Supreme court halts internship programme ruling

In a ruling rendered by a six-judge bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice Martha Koome, and including Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, and Justices William Ouko, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung'u, and Isaac Lenaola, issued the interim stay of the appellant court ruling allowing the scheme to continue pending the hearing of an appeal filed by TSC.

"Pending the hearing and determination of the Notice of Motion dated April 21, 2026, an interim order of stay of execution of the decision and orders of the Court of Appeal… is hereby granted," the CJ Koome-led bench ruled.

The orders effectively froze the appellate court's finding that the TSC's January 2023 internship circular and all resulting contracts were unconstitutional,

Chief Justice Koome directed the matter be placed before the Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court who will on May 7, 2026, give further directions on the hearing of the appeal lodged by the TSC.

The orders by the apex court came after TSC filed an appeal seeking to overturn a February 27,2026 Court of Appeal ruling that had found that hiring trained and registered teachers as interns at lower pay than permanently employed teachers amounts to discrimination.

The crisis traces back to 2019, when the TSC introduced the Teacher Internship Programme as part of the government's drive to address acute teacher shortages, particularly in Junior Secondary Schools under Kenya's Competency-Based Curriculum, while managing tight wage pressures on the public payroll.

Under the scheme, qualified and registered teachers were deployed to schools on a stipend of Sh20,000 per month, far below the pay of their permanently employed counterparts.

In 2023, the Forum for Good Governance and Human Rights filed a petition at the Labour Court arguing that the programme had no clear statutory framework authorising TSC to hire qualified teachers as interns, and that intern teachers were functioning as full employees while the programme disguised employment under a training label.

On February 27, 2026, the Court of Appeal declared the TSC internship programme illegal, unconstitutional, and discriminatory, stating that hiring trained and registered teachers as interns on lower pay amounted to unfair labour practice. The Star

The appellate judgment was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Justices Jamila Mohammed, Fred Ochieng, and Francis Tuiyott, who upheld the earlier Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) ruling, which declared the internship programme illegal, unconstitutional, null, and void.

The court emphasized that the interns were trained and registered teachers performing the same functions as permanent staff, yet denied equivalent remuneration and benefits, effectively creating a category of "inferior employees" without legal authority, a practice incompatible with Kenya's labour and constitutional law.

It also held that TSC had not established a constitutional or statutory mandate to employ teachers known as interns and its constitutional and statutory mandate was to employ registered teachers.

"Only to that extent does the appeal succeed. We uphold the declaration by the ELRC that Circular TSC/DS/RECRUIT/ADVER/18A/VOL II dated January 4, 2023, and the subsequent internship contracts contravened the provisions of the Constitution," the appellant judges ruled.

Faced with the prospect of immediately terminating tens of thousands of contracts with TSC's own legal director Cavin Anyuor, acknowledging the Commission had only two options: terminate the contracts or confirm teachers into permanent and pensionable employment, which would require additional budgetary allocations, the Commission escalated the matter to the country's apex court.

The TSC argued that abruptly implementing the Court of Appeal decision would cause severe disruption to Kenya's education system.

The Commission disclosed it was in active engagement with the National Treasury, National Assembly, and other government agencies to mobilise funds for the permanent employment of interns.

Hours after the Supreme Court, TSC, in a statement signed by acting Commission Secretary and CEO Evaleen Mitei, welcomed the court's intervention, saying that the ruling preserves stability in the education sector.

“The programme aims to provide newly qualified teachers with hands-on teaching experience to improve their skills and enhance their competitiveness for the job market,” Mitei stated.

It further warned of the consequences of abruptly ending the programme, stating: “The sudden termination of the Programme… would have been extremely disruptive and detrimental to the interests of more than two million Junior School students.”

"This is particularly pertinent given that no budget had been allocated for the immediate, permanent employment of the teacher interns."

TSC added that no budgetary allocation had been made for immediate permanent employment of interns, cautioning that implementation of the appellate ruling would have created staffing gaps in schools.

The commission also confirmed it had escalated the matter to the Supreme Court to obtain what it termed a definitive judicial examination of the legal and factual issues relevant to the Teacher Internship Programme.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba had earlier disclosed that the government has Sh6 billion available for the absorption exercise but requires an additional Sh23 billion to complete the full transition to permanent and pensionable terms, a fiscal gap that underscores why the TSC fought urgently for the stay.

The 44,000 intern teachers are deployed to junior schools, making up almost half of the teaching force in institutions that remain critically understaffed.