The Teachers Service Commission, TSC, has said it is ready to recruit 5,000 new teachers on permanent basis this year in a bid to address shortage in public schools. The National treasury has already allocated KES 3.2 Billion to the Commission that will be used to hire more teachers.
“In the current financial year, TSC will recruit 5,000 teachers on permanent terms and also engage intern teachers to help address the existing teacher shortage in our schools,” announced Dr. Nancy Macharia; the TSC boss. Dr Macharia said this while opening the Coastal Regional County Education Quality Dialogues on the new curriculum, CBC, at Shimo La Tewa High School, Mombasa on Monday 15- July, 2019.
According to Dr. Macharia, the current 317,069 teachers on the TSC payroll can not handle the workload in public schools. Also to be recruited are intern teachers though TSC has not indicated on the actual number to be absorbed this year.
Also read; TSC- new recruitment guidelines for teachers
In February this year Members of Parliament gave the Commission a go ahead to lay down strategies on how about 87,000 intern teachers would be hired to plug the teething shortages at public schools. While appearing before the National Assembly’s Education Committee on February 21, TSC Chief Executive Officer, Dr Nancy Njeri Macharia, told the legislators that about 87,000 intern teachers were required to ease the workload burden on the existing teaching staff. “We need these interns so that they can help us in addressing the shortage as we look for money to hire teachers on permanent terms,” Dr Macharia had told the Committee.
TSC reports indicate that, by 30th June, 2018, the Commission estimated teacher shortage of 96,345 with 38,054 at Primary and 58,291 at Post-Primary school level respectively. This shortage is attributed to rapid growth in school enrollment and various initiatives in the education sector that have necessitated the establishment of new and expansion of existing schools. These initiatives include the Government policy of 100% learner transition from primary to secondary. By 2023, the teacher shortage is projected at 61,671 for secondary and 34,941 for primary schools. As a measure to cope with teacher shortages, various Boards of Management for institutions have engaged approximately 80,000 teachers in public schools some of whom may not be qualified. This has compromised the standards of education and learner achievement and also undermined the Government’s commitment to free/affordable basic education.
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