Broken Dreams: The agony of unemployed teachers enduring distress on TSC doorsteps

Every year, thousands of teachers graduate out of Kenyan Universities and Colleges with hopes of getting employed and putting their trade into test as soon as possible. 

However, today graduates spend several years chasing elusive opportunities without success. All as a result of systematic failures within the education sector and the corruption that penetrated into employment. 

About 23 kilometers from Nairobi CBD, I meet Zadock Otieno Okello who has been teaching at a local private school in Banana, Kiambu County. Zadock graduated from Nyanchwa Teachers College in Kisii in 2013 and embarked on a job search journey. A 10-year journey that has so far left him in distress, despair and agony as he awaits an employment opportunity from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

“When I graduated, I was almost 25-years-old and today I am over 30, still looking for an opportunity with the TSC so that I can build myself when I am still young,” he narrates. 

Zadock embraced teaching career with a desire to change lives and mould learners. 

“I love what I do as a teacher. At first, it wasn’t my career but I have come to love it along the way because I have seen lives change, I have seen children transform from worse to the best and this gives me the hope to be a teacher today, tomorrow and any other time,” Zadock says. 

Zadock’s story mirrors that of many other trained teachers in Kenya. Despite attending numerous interviews across counties and spending significant resources on applications, his efforts have been fruitless. 

He says that some of his classmates secured jobs with the teachers’ employment body after bribing their way into classrooms. 

“Some of my colleagues graduated in 2013 and have secured employment with TSC. Even some who graduated two years ago. They told me they had to part with something ‘small’ to be absorbed,” he reveals.

Like Zadock, Anne Charity is also victim of a broken system. She has spent 11 years seeking a job from TSC. She welcomes us into her house in Langata estate with laughter and happiness that hides a veil of suffering and frustrations, masked with anguish of years spent chasing a dream that seems unattainable. Hers is a story of devastation and anger. 

Anne graduated from Asumbi Teachers Training College in 2012 and embarked on a job search that has yielded nothing 12 years later. 

“I started applying for the government teaching jobs in 2013 because that was my first year after graduating from college. Every time there is a vacancy, TSC always tell us to bring our certificates for verification. They check everything including the name and identification details. After this rigorous process, they say they will contact us. I have done this for 11 years and they have never contacted me,” she opens up. 

From her childhood, Anne wanted to become a teacher, a career she treasures. Her dream to get employed by the TSC is now surrendered to fate. She has given up faith in her strength to carry on.

“It was my dream as a young Kenyan to be employed by the government to practice what I love. It is not necessarily to be employed by the government but you see, the career I took, we have it in the government. I believe ‘tarmacking’ is okay but now when you tarmac for more than 10 years, it becomes tiresome. Age is catching up with me and I don’t know when I will be employed,” Anne painfully narrates. 

In May 2023 while appearing before Senate National Cohesion Committee, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia admitted a teacher shortage of over 110,000. The shortage comprises 47,329 at primary level and 64,541 in post-primary schools. 

As I conclude my interview with Anne, she sympathises with thousands of public school learners lacking basic education due to teacher shortages, while qualified teachers languish in unemployment.

“Kenya still faces challenges of teacher shortage. I know of many public schools that still lack teachers. Vacancies are there and TSC needs to restructure themselves and employ us. We are really suffering,” Anne adds. 

In Kibra Constituency, I meet Peter Kutondo, a teacher who graduated from college nine years ago and has since been unable to secure employment with TSC. Peter volunteers as a teacher in a community-owned private school in Kibra. 

He lifts the lid on the corruption racket that is threatening to tear TSC apart. 

“Since I graduated in 2016, I have been trying to secure a job with the TSC but all has been in vain. Some of my colleagues who graduated after me got employed and if you ask them how they got the jobs, they tell me they bribed their way in. Personally, I have been approached by more than three people who were willing to help me get employed with TSC provided I pay them money but I have refused to go this path since it is against the values I believe in,” he narrates. 

Peter, while reflecting on the trauma he has gone through for eight years while knocking every TSC door admits that the teachers’ body has greatly failed him and thousands of unemployed graduates. He cites corruption as the main challenge pulling the body down. 

“Those who came after me, some even one year got absorbed into the system. If you keenly follow the procedure, it’s tainted with corruption. TSC has failed me as a teacher and other teachers outside here who are crying and cannot have a chance to speak,” Peter adds. 

His eight-year ordeal has eroded his faith in the system. He wants TSC to live to its mandate and employ teachers based on merit.

“TSC must live by the ethos and ethics that guide their daily operations. We say there is no corruption in TSC but they employ teachers based on who they know and what they have. TSC must stop engaging in corrupt dealings and do things the right way,” Peter says. 

Where Did the Mess Begin? 

Kenya, being United Nations’ member state is required to adhere to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Teacher Policy Development Guide that mandates countries to train required number of teachers and seamlessly absorb them into the system.

Former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion has been at the centre of teachers’ welfare for decades. 

On many occasions, he has stood out as a lonely voice championing for teachers’ welfare, a fight he has embraced viciously and fearlessly. 

According to Sossion, the mess began when Kenya started violating the teacher training and recruitment policy. 

“The rain started beating us with the violation of training and recruitment policy of the country. It was wrong to allow reckless, massive and unchecked training of teachers. Right now, we have close to 600,000 trained, qualified and unemployed teachers. If this is to go by, it means there are teachers who will never get employed,” Sossion says. 

He also blames the Teacher Service Commission for rampant corruption accusing them of selling employment letters and forcing some teachers to buy their way into serving their country. 

“Employment letters are being sold. For primary teachers, it is about Ksh.350,000 and for graduate teachers, it is Ksh.500,000. These are real testimonies. You cannot train teachers and subject them to a difficult process of buying their way to serve their country,” he says. 

To cure the teacher unemployment crisis, Sossion wants the leadership and management of TSC overhauled.

The drafters of the 2010 constitution having considered the crucial role that teachers play in the society, established the Teachers Service Commission in Article 237 with the sole mandate to register trained teachers, recruit and employ registered teachers.

When asked about the hiring process and the criteria for recruiting teachers, TSC informed Citizen Digital that their recruitment process is fair, saying that budgetary constraints prevent them from employing more teachers.

“It is true that we have over 300,000 trained and qualified teachers who cannot be employed not because of TSC, but because government doesn’t have money,” a TSC spokesperson said. 

Regarding corruption allegations, the teachers’ body denied claims of selling employment letters, emphasizing that its officers strictly adhere to employment guidelines in accordance with the law.

The unemployment of teachers is national tragedy devouring the country within. Thousands of trained and qualified teachers are ready to serve but are unable due to systemic corruption, poor planning and lack of accountability. 

Who will restore the lost glory of the noble teaching profession and end the suffering of Kenya’s unemployed educators?