TSC wants Ksh.14.8 billion to recruit teachers

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has asked for an annual budgetary allocation of Ksh.14.8 billion to address the shortage of teachers in the country.

TSC CEO Nancy Macharia, while making submissions before the Senate's National Cohesion Committee on Tuesday, said the commission needs an additional 111,870 teachers over a period of 5 years.

The commission has only managed to recruit 30,000 teachers since January 2023.

"Despite the implemented strategies, admittedly the commission is faced with a teacher shortage of 111,870 teachers; 47,329 at primary level and 64,541 in post-primary institutions countrywide," she said.

The government had earlier announced it would employ 35,000 teachers by September to bridge the gap, especially in junior secondary schools where learning has been a challenge.

Macharia added that the commission will require an annual budgetary allocation of Ksh.14.8 billion for the next five years to alleviate the problem. 

"To address the teacher shortage, the commission requires to recruit 111,870 teachers over a period of 5 years," she said.

Committee members were however opposed to the proposal saying the government may not be able to find the money needed to recruit additional teachers.

They instead suggested the recruitment of interns who will eventually be employed on permanent and pensionable terms.

"If we are serious about recruiting teachers what stops us not to recruit interns…if you look at 14 billion we might not get the money in one go," Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago said.

"It's an idea you can consider... it is the best way to explore then after a year you consider the intern for pensionable and permanent terms," Tharaka Nithi Senator Mwenda Gataya added.

Macharia however responded by stating that TSC is actually recruiting intern teachers further noting that the Kenya Kwanza government promised to recruit 116,000 teachers when it assumed office.

TSC has managed to recruit 36,000 teachers in an exercise conducted in January this year out of which 30,550 posts were allocated to junior secondary schools,  5,000 posts were allocated to primary schools across all the 47 counties and 450 were allocated to secondary schools.