TSC deploys over 30,000 Junior Secondary School teachers

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has posted over 30,000 teachers to public Junior Secondary Schools across the country, and they’re expected to report by Monday next week.

The move comes amidst concerns from a section of stakeholders in the education sector over whether the number of teachers employed by TSC will suffice to meet the growing demand.

Almost a week since Grade 7 learners reported to school to start their first term of Junior Secondary School, the Ministry of Education is still trying to ensure that this first cohort settles in school.

However, the delayed deployment of teachers especially for public schools is one of the key challenges that paralysed learning in the first week

“I was in Kisumu yesterday and I visited about 7 schools, I interviewed head teachers who are manning Junior Secondary Schools and the answer was these teachers have not reported. And for those who have reported, it’s a single teacher against a stream of 4, so it becomes a big question,”said  KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu.

The situation is likely to change in the coming week after the TSC posted over 30,000 teachers expected to report to public Junior Secondary Schools across the country on Monday.

The distribution of teachers was done according to the number of Grade 7 classes per county with each Junior Secondary School getting one teacher.

TSC was seeking to employ 90,000 teachers on permanent and pensionable terms of service and 21,550 teacher interns.

According to the recruitment plan by TSC, counties likely to be the biggest beneficiaries include Kitui, which was to have a recruitment of 1,475 teachers, Kakamega (1,449), Nakuru (1,223), Bungoma (1,208), Meru (1,120) and Machakos (1,050).

Counties that will receive the least number of teachers in this recruitment plan include Isiolo expecting 119 teachers, Lamu (131), Samburu (175), Garissa (190), Marsabit (191), Mombasa (192), and Tana River (192).

Mr. Oyuu has poked holes into the recruitment process claiming that teachers who got below the C+ grade in their KCSE were unfairly locked out.

“If this teacher has competently qualified for the teaching subjects and has a degree, the teacher has qualified competently for the degree certificate then I don’t think it is wise enough to condemn this teacher for not being able to handle Junior Secondary School based on the fact that the teacher had a grade C plain,” said the KNUT boss.

While appreciating the move by the commision to employ a record high number of teachers within a single year, the education stakeholders maintain that more needs to be done to address the teacher deficit

“Our teachers are overburdened, so with the new curriculum and the new approaches to learning, TSC must rationalise staffing. This is the time that TSC should not have other regions understaffed while other regions are overstaffed, so they must be keen,” KUPPET Secretary General Akelo Misori stated.

Another crucial factor is the issue of equipping the human resource for CBC implementation.

“Already we have trained 2,376 master trainers, we target to train 90,000 teachers between now and April 2023,” TSC CEO Nancy Macharia said.

Misori added: “The teacher issue is a very serious issue and for this curriculum to be implemented with the attendant results we expect numbers, the teachers should be motivated, the teachers should be properly inducted into the processes so that’s why it is a key issue in CBC success and implementation.”

According to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education, Junior Secondary School learners will be taken through a maximum of 14 learning areas spread across 9 lessons each day.

Junior Secondary School teachers are expected to deliver 45 lessons a week.