The Teachers Service Commission, TSC, has put the shortage of teachers at 72,422 countrywide at Junior Schools.
Public primary schools that host junior school face serious staffing challenges despite government plans to recruit 20,000 more teachers on contract this term.
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The staffing challenges have been compounded by the transition of more than one million learners to Grade 9 under the competency-based curriculum (CBC).
Last year, the teachers’ employer converted 39,550 teachers serving in junior school on contract to permanent and pensionable terms.
Another 8,378 primary school teachers teachers were upgraded and deployed to teach in junior schools.
The government has allocated Sh4.8 billion to recruit the 20,000 additional teacher interns for junior schools from this month.
Primary school heads who manage the Junior Schools say that they still face teacher shortages, and there are gaps to fill.
The shortage of staff in schools has resulted in overcrowded classrooms, overstretched teachers and a lack of subject specialists needed for proper implementation of CBC.
The number of teachers employed at the Junior Schools can not handle all the lessons and learning areas. Consequently, current Primary School teachers have been brought on board to assist the recruited Junior School teachers. This has been confirmed by Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migosi Ogamba.
“We have also availed nearly 76,000 teachers for JSS. In areas where there is a shortage, primary teachers are being promoted to teach JSS classes based on their competencies,” CS Ogamba says.
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers Deputy Secretary-General Moses Nthurima has said the staffing the crisis is due to inadequate political goodwill and insufficient funding.
“We need more than 100,000 teachers in post-primary institutions, with the shortage in sciences and mathematics being particularly severe. The biggest obstacle is political goodwill, which is lacking, as the government prioritises infrastructure over education and fails to see the importance of investing in employment through financing,” he said.
He criticised TSC for its reliance on the internship programme.
“TSC is mandated to employ teachers permanently, not through internships, there is no law that allows TSC to employ interns. That’s why the internship programme was contested in court,” Nthurima added.
Deploying primary school teachers to junior schools was described as a temporary fix. While some of these teachers meet the qualifications, this approach fails to address the core issue of inadequate staffing.
“TSC has proposals to address the shortage, but implementation depends on Treasury and Parliament’s budget allocation,” he added.
During a townhall, education stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education, Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, and TSC emphasised the importance of a multi-agency approach to addressing challenges in CBC implementation.
“The expected teacher establishment for junior school currently stands at 149,350 teachers. To date, the Commission has recruited 76,928 (51.5%) teachers for junior school, thus the projected shortage is estimated to be 72,422 (48.5%),” said TSC boss Nancy Macharia.
While addressing the media on Monday, Basic Education Principal Secretary Dr. Belio Kipsang noted that the Teacher’s Service Commission (TSC) has posted 46,000 teachers who were on internship and another cohort of 20,000 teachers.
“This morning I engaged with the chair of the Teachers Service Commission and they informed me that they have issued posting instructions to all the 20000 who were taken in for internship, 46, 000 who were converted to permanent and pensionable and the upgraded 10,000 teachers,” he told journalists
The PS was however quick to note that there still was a big shortage of teachers at the Junior schools.
“As we talk now, we have more than 76,000 (teachers) who can teach at our junior schools. However, we still have a shortage because we have not attained the number required.” The PS said.
The Junior Schools will now have 3 classes in grade 7, 8 and 9.
The Commission will at the same time deploy about 6,000 current Primary School teachers to JSS this year as it seeks to address the shortage.
This has also been confirmed by Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migosi Ogamba.
“Qualified primary school teachers will be deployed to junior schools to progressively ensure that each school is adequately staffed”. CS Ogamba said in a statement.
TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia recently revealed that the Commission requires a total of 149,350 teachers to handle Grade 7, 8 and 9.
Macharia said currently TSC has employed 76,928 teachers in junior secondary representing 51.5% of the requirement.
