TSC gets Parliament approval to hire 88,000 teachers

Parliament has endorsed Teachers Service Commission’s (TSC) Sh26 billion request for recruitment of 88,000 tutors to address shortage.

National Assembly Education Committee chairman Julius Melly on Tuesday said the proposal will see 68,000 intern teachers hired at Sh16 billion and 20,000 teachers on permanent terms at Sh10 billion.

That means the recruitment, which will plug a 104,821 teacher shortfall, now awaits release of funds by the Treasury.

“We are determined to have this issue of teacher shortage addressed once for all,” said Mr Melly when Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed and TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia appeared before the committee.

This means that the Treasury will have to look for extra funds to support the recruitment.

The budget policy statement released in January indicates that the Treasury has a Sh218 billion budget for TSC starting July compared to Sh202 billion in the current financial year.

Ms Amina and Mrs Macharia accompanied by other senior officials had appeared before the committee to respond to questions by Homa Bay town MP Peter Kaluma on the shortage of teachers in his constituency and Kenya at large.

Mrs Macharia said primary schools are facing a shortage of 40,972 teachers and secondary schools 63,849.

“To date, the Commission has in its register 291,785 teachers who are unemployed,” said Mrs Macharia.

She said the Commission has put in place mechanisms to ensure that replacement of teachers who exit service is done promptly to ensure learning is not interrupted.

“The commission has ensured that teachers who are already in service and few who are recruited are proportionally distributed across the country to address the staffing gaps,” added Mrs Macharia.

She said TSC has developed staffing norms to guide staffing of primary schools on the basis of one teacher per class plus one while in secondary schools it’s on the basis of curriculum based establishment(CBE)  with a teacher being expected to have a teaching load of 27 lessons per week.

In tertiary institutions’ it’s on the basis of the number of departments established in every institution and the Commission also takes into consideration  the key administrative posts  in the institution such as principal , deputy principal , dean of students and registrar.

MPs in the meeting raised concerns over delocalization of teachers as well promotion of teachers saying that it was not being in a proper way.

ODM Nominated MP Wilson Sossion asked TSC to ensure that it hires local teachers in order to avoid situation being witnessed in North Eastern area.

“We must allow local communities to have their own teachers,” said Mr Sossion.

Dadaab Member of Parliament Mohamed Dahir Duale who attended the meeting as a friend of the committee opposed the transfer of teachers from the region due to insecurity.

READ: TSC rolls out Sh2.3bn teacher training plan

He said security officers have been deployed to the area to ensure that those teaching there are safe.

However, Mrs Macharia warned that she will not hesitate to withdraw teachers whose lives are in danger due to insecurity.

“In the past we have withdrawn teachers from Samburu, Kapedo , Mpeketoni and other areas and I will not hesitate to transfer others when they are in danger,” said Mrs Macharia insisting that teachers cannot work in hostile environment.

She said Garissa, Mandera and Wajir are some of counties which are well staffed that they have a shortage of 684 teachers in secondary and 1900 in primary schools as compared to other counties.

“We have been having challenges recruiting local teachers in North Eastern since 2014 since they are not there,” said Mrs Macharia.

Ms Mohamed on her part, said 1,200 curriculum assistant will be recruited and trained for two months in order to address the shortage in Wajir that was created by transfer of non-local teachers.