The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on Tuesday, March 22 announced the mass recruitment of teachers to counter the shortage of instructors in Kenya’s North-Eastern region.

Speaking in Mombasa, TSC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nancy Macharia explained that the government gave the green light for the enrolment process following the mass exodus of non-local teachers from the region.

Macharia added that the teacher’s employer will be working with locals and leaders to sign up and train teachers from the region. However, she clarified that hiring was open to professionals from all regions.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) CEO Nancy Macharia addresses National Assembly’s education committee on February 19, 2020.

“It is true, non-local staff do not prefer working in North Eastern due to security-related issues. We are, therefore, working with area leaders to sign up teachers originating in the region as well as in other regions,” she noted.

Reiterating support from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, she noted that funds had been allocated for the process which will run throughout the year.

“Unlike in the norm where we would recruit teachers after the commission receives funding, this recruitment will go on through the year,” Macharia declared.

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The TSC boss encouraged teachers from across the country to apply for the job opportunities through the office of the commission’s county directors.  She further waived qualifications, allowing retirees to sign up.

“Even those who had retired from the profession at 60 years of age but are yet to clock 65 years can apply for the jobs. We expect that this will help fill in the gaps,” Macharia stated.

On February 25, leaders and education stakeholders in the region asked the government to intervene and proposed that the entry grade for those who wish to train as teachers to be lowered to D minus.

They further called for the government to beef up security in the region and protect teachers and students too.

Since 2021, teachers have been fled the North-Eastern region in their numbers following what they claimed were targeted attacks on non-locals by a militia group in the region.

The attacks, coupled with ambushes by the Al Shabaab militant group saw nearly 40,000 teachers abandon their professions, leaving the majority of the institutions understaffed. This led to the subsequent closure of a number of schools.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has advertised 154 vacancies for tutors in teacher training colleges and the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (Cemastea).

TTCs need 130 lecturers while 24 national trainers are required at the Cemastea. The new tutors are meant to cater for shortage created after the government phased out the certificate in teacher education and transitioned to the diploma in teacher education (DPTE) programme.

The advertisement is open to eligible teachers in secondary. TTCs require lecturers for various subjects with music requiring the most (18).

Qualifications

• Must be a secondary school teacher
• Must be at a minimum grade of C4, T-Scale 9 and a senior master IV.
• The applicants must also hold a bachelor degree in education (science) or its equivalent
• Have participated in performance the appraisal process.
• Successful candidates will be deployed to any public TTC where the vacancy exists.
• To qualify for deployment at the Cemastea, interested teachers require the same qualifications. In addition, however, they must have served as Cemastea county trainers for at least three years.

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How to apply

• Applications should be submitted through the TSC website or ‘teachers online’ before January 25 2022.
• Secondary schools that will be affected by exit of teachers will be re-staffed later.

Click here to apply.

Rationale

TSC and the Ministry of Education has set a DPTE or diploma in early childhood teacher education as the minimum qualification for teaching under the competency-based teacher education (CBTE). The new admissions, coupled with new learning areas, has created demand more lecturers in TTCs. The situation has been worsened by retirements of lecturers and promotion of some of them to take up positions in secondary schools.

According to TSC data, there is a total shortage of 114,581 teachers in the country. Secondary schools are worst hit as they need 64,737 teachers while primary schools have a shortage of 49,653 teachers. Other areas that are understaffed are Kenya Institute of Special Education (26), Kenya Institute for the Blind (3), and curriculum support officers (50).