CS Machogu On JSS Teachers Shortage As Headteachers Raise New Challenges

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has addressed concerns by headteachers in junior secondary schools over the delay in the deployment of Grade Seven teachers.

While addressing the press in Nairobi on Monday, February 6, Education CS Machogu assured all public schools that the government hired enough teachers who are in the process of reporting to their respective schools.

According to Machogu, there are 36,000 teachers that they have employed who are reporting to their respective schools this week or latest by next week. However, the heads of the Junior Secondary Schools, JSS, which have received the teacher argued that the number did not match the workload that the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) demands.

Teachers also raised concerns about accessing textbooks for the Grade Seven class explaining that most books had not been approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).

On February 2, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) called for urgent action from the government to deploy teachers countrywide for learning to start in Junior Secondary Schools.

According to KNUT, they mounted pressure on the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to deploy the teachers within the shortest time to avert further loss of class time.

Former KNUT Secretary-General Wilson Sossion has been calling on the Ministry of Education to abandon the curriculum saying it was disadvantaging the kids and that it is set to ruin the lives of millions of children in Kenya.

“This system cannot work. It is high time that the ministry realized this and look for another model. We may not go back to the 8-4-4 system but we can choose STEM,” he said.

Learning has Ochomo been going on in some private schools. However, Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA) Chair Charles intimated that they had their fair share of challenges.

Privative schools decried low turnout as Grade 7 students flocked to public schools. The TSC had earlier asked for information on primary school teachers who are qualified to teach in junior secondary schools.

Only classroom teachers, according to TSC, will be posted to teach in the junior secondary sector beginning with Grade 7 later this month. The TSC is devising a strategy to vet all primary school teachers with degree and diploma certificates in secondary options for placement in Grade 7 classes.

Related Content: Junior Secondary School Crisis Worsens As KNUT Issues New Demands