Schools facing a shortage of 114,000 teachers, TSC boss Nancy Macharia reveals

Ms. Macharia, speaking on Monday at the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) headquarters in Nairobi during the release of the 2021 KCPE results, said that the commission is short of 114,581 teachers.

“We thank the government for funding resources to allow us to recruit an average of 5,000 teachers annually for our public schools. However, we still have a shortage of 114,581 teachers in primary and post-primary institutions,” said Macharia.

The TSC boss attributed the shortage partly to the 100% transition policy by the government, which seeks to ensure all students who complete their primary education are fully enrolled in secondary schools.

“This is due to the increased enrolment arising from the 100% transition policy, and registration of new schools,” she added.

Macharia further noted that the commission will be conducting an audit of all schools countrywide to ensure that all schools have a balanced teacher-to-learner ratio ahead of the start of the new academic year which kicks off in May.

She further announced that 60,000 TSC-registered teachers will undergo training in April as part of the Competency-Based Curriculum rollout to prepare them for junior secondary school classes.

CS Magoha had previously announced that the training will take place over a 10-month period between February and December.

Under the CBC curriculum, Grade 7 and Grade 8 shall be in the junior high school level, with the first lot expected to join in January 2023.

The government has already released Ksh.8 billion to the Ministry of Education through the Treasury to assist in the construction of 10,000 classes in secondary schools to ease the transition to the new curriculum.