INTERNSHIP: THE GAMBIT TO DENY TEACHERS PERMANENT AND PENSIONABLE EMPLOYMENT.

Nations the world over recognize the intricate connections between stable government, economic growth and effective schooling and are making basic education a national priority. They have made it their foremost preoccupation to examine strategies to use in unlocking the full potential of the teaching profession through policies that focus on accountability for quality and results, incentives to attract and keep high-quality teachers and building capacity for effective teaching. However, it is sad that the Kenya government is intent with the continuation of its scheming and lackadaisical stance on this very national lifeline. The net effect of the government`s haughtiness has been that the turnover of teachers has been extremely high. If truth be told, the government is, to say the least, disinterested in embracing a more respectful culture as a means to attracting more teaching talent in our schools. Instead, it is hell bent on employing a masterly misdemeanor with a view to tackling this intractable problem in the most unprofessional way. It wants the role of employing and paying teachers exercised by schools` BoG`s and PTA`s. Yet doing so will be folly, sham and deceptively dangerous to the growth of the teaching profession in this country. It must be made crystal clear that the issue here is not whether “internship” under the terms of the various school boards will address in a jiffy the shortages prevalent in schools countrywide but whether this mode of employment will have an awful side effect on the teaching profession; the truth is that such a move will permanently denigrate the teaching profession. If the idea that a qualified teacher has to work as an intern before being formally employed then why not let the internship be exercised under the terms and conditions of TSC and not the schools` BoG`s or PTA`s. This is because TSC will find it extremely difficult to take corrective measures against the interns who engage in unethical practices. Moreover, the period in which one has to serve as an intern prior to being formally employed by TSC must also be spelt out so that internship is not used as a gambit to deny teachers the right to be employed under permanent and pensionable terms. If internship is meant to deny teachers the right to secure employment, then it would seem that professionalism is the least of the government`s concerns. It will be unsurprising if the government goes to the extent of contracting teachers who never should be contracted in the first place for the simple reason that bodies are needed in the classroom. In the long run this cheap, unprofessional and inexperienced labor force will turn out to be detrimental to the citizenry of this country. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA. http://twitter.com/tomefrancis