The Teachers Service Commission on Monday confirmed that there is a shortage of 114,581 teachers in primary and post-primary institutions in Kenya.
The Chief Executive Officer of TSC, Dr. Nancy Macharia, revealed during the release of 2021 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam results at Mtihani House that the commission needs at least 114,581 new teachers.
The TSC boss said that the government funds the annual recruitment of 5,000 teachers, but this number is not enough to sustain the growing number of learners in the country.
“TSC is grateful to the government for allocating funds and resources to allow us to recruit an average of 5,000 teachers each year for our public schools. Despite this, we still have a shortage of 114,581 teachers in primary and post-primary institutions,” said Macharia.
TSC Boss noted that the current teacher-to-student ratio was unbalanced and did not meet internationally set standards.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education, George Magoha, who participated in the program, attributed the lack of a 100 percent transition policy from primary to secondary schools.
“This is due to the 100 per cent transition policy and increase in enrollment as a result of registration of new schools,” the TSC boss said.
He said that the commission will conduct a nationwide audit of all basic education institutions to ensure balanced teacher-teacher ratio before the start of the new academic year in May 2022.
According to Macharia, TSC plans to train 60,000 junior secondary school teachers in CBC and competency-based assessment (CBA) from April 25 (soon after the completion of KCSE marking) to May 13, 2022.
“The training will adopt a phased (cascade) model of training that will begin at the county and sub-county levels at the national level,” she said.
During this period, teachers will be trained in specific teaching areas such as languages, pure sciences, applied sciences, mathematics, humanities and technical subjects.
Releasing the KCPE result, CS Magoha said that the class of 2021 will be the second last to appear in the national examination under the 8-4-4 system. Under the CBC, grades 7 and 8 will be carried over to high school.
The state has since injected billions into overseeing the construction of thousands of classrooms across the country. Magoha said he would focus on completing the construction of the classrooms before handing it over to the next chief secretary in the government formed after the August 9, 2022 elections.
