TSC needs 25,839 teachers to fill staffing gaps in senior schools

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced a pressing need for 25,839 teachers to fill staffing gaps in senior schools ahead of the introduction of Grade 10 next year.

During a session in Parliament, TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia highlighted the significant challenges facing the first cohorts of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). She reported that the total teacher shortage in both junior and senior secondary schools is currently at 98,261.

Dr. Macharia made these statements on April 8 while addressing the National Assembly’s Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee regarding teacher recruitment, promotions, and deployment nationwide.

She indicated that the Commission requires 72,422 teachers to alleviate the shortage in junior secondary schools (JSS). Overall, TSC needs 149,350 teachers to effectively implement the CBC for Grades 7, 8, and 9. However, the Commission has been allocated a budget to recruit an additional 36,000 teachers this year.

Of these, 18,000 will be hired on permanent and pensionable contracts, while the other 18,000 will be on internship terms. These new hires are intended to fill the staffing shortages in both junior and senior schools.

Currently, TSC has employed 76,928 teachers in junior secondary, which accounts for 51.5% of the required number. This includes 39,550 junior secondary teachers who were initially recruited on internship contracts but were confirmed in permanent positions in January 2025, along with 8,378 P1 teachers deployed to JSS in 2023 and 2024, and 9,000 JSS teachers hired on permanent contracts.

Additionally, TSC recruited 20,000 JSS teachers on a one-year internship basis in January after receiving a budget of 4.8 billion shillings. Since April 2019, TSC has retrained a total of 229,292 teachers in the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and Competency-Based Assessment (CBA), with 60,642 JSS teachers retrained from May 2023 to November 2024.

The Commission is facing pressure to tackle an impending teacher crisis in JSS, where the current teacher-to-class ratio stands at 1:1. TSC also plans to retrain 7,000 secondary school principals in preparation for the rollout of Grade 10.