TSC To Hire 58,000 Teachers As Talks With The Government Kicks Off

As a result of recent revelations that talks are taking place between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the government on the prospect of recruiting 58,000 in the current financial year, there is hope for thousands of unemployed teachers.

If it comes to pass, the recruitment would be in line with President William Ruto’s campaign promise that, if elected, his government would employ 116,000 teachers in two years to bridge the current shortage in public schools.

That would bring the total number of teachers on the government payroll to 400 000, making it the largest teacher recruitment in history.

The revelation was made on 5^th October by TSC boss Nancy Macharia during celebrations to mark World Teachers Day at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi. She, however, did not provide the timelines for the recruitment.

“Consultations are ongoing with the Presidency on teacher recruitment and we shall be giving (updates of the) progress as we go along. Be assured that the Kenyan teacher can only expect good things going forward. We shall be telling you how to go on with this recruitment as per the Kenya Kwanza Charter,” Dr. Macharia said.

The government promised to “guarantee that the existing teacher gap of 116,000 is adequately bridged within two financial years by employing 58,000 teachers for Sh25 billion per year” in the education charter he signed in June with stakeholders in the education sector.

Macharia called on the new teachers to remain committed, owing to the fact they will be delivering three national examinations; KCPE, KCSE, and KPSEA, which are scheduled to start in November this year.

“As we celebrate the teachers today, we are also cognizant of the fact that the staff is also busy preparing for one of the busiest national examination periods in our country, granted that we will be administering three national examinations –, KCPE, KCSE, and, for the first time, the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) for Grade Six,” she said.

The chairman of the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha), Indimuli Kahi, had earlier at yesterday’s event urged the President to fulfill his promise.

Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers secretary-general Akello Misori also called for a solution to the staffing crisis in schools. During the last recruitment in July, more than 356,000 jobless teachers applied for the 14,460 vacancies that had been advertised by the TSC.

Post-primary teaching vacancies attracted the highest number of applicants, with 219,311 teachers expressing interest in the 4,000 declared vacancies. Of the 1,000 new vacancies advertised for primary school teachers, the commission received 136,833 applications.

Mr. Kahi and Mr. Misori also asked the government to provide a safe environment for teachers to work in, noting that insecurity had forced teachers to stay away from such regions.

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