Curb teacher shortage in senior school rollout
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has its work cut out as the country gears up for a key phase in the transition to the Competency-Based Education (CBE).
Indeed, the TSC has a substantial task in implementing the new curriculum by ensuring adequate teacher preparedness, training and deployment. It must work with other education stakeholders to ensure that teachers have the necessary tools and environment.
The TSC faces significant challenges in fulfilling its mandate of recruiting and employing registered teachers. It is worried about the next academic year, as there is a glaring imbalance. While some schools are reeling from a higher teacher workload, a few are adequately staffed.
In the current financial year, the TSC was allocated Sh378.2 billion, out of which Sh2.4 billion was for the recruitment of permanent teachers and Sh7.2 billion for the hiring of intern teachers for junior school.
However, the TSC has warned that the shortage of teachers, fuelled by insufficient budgetary allocation, is bound to worsen next year with the senior school rollout, threatening to undermine the right to access quality basic education. New subjects in junior and senior secondary schools have increased the demand for teachers.
The Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee of the National Assembly has cautioned in a report that the current teacher shortage threatens to undermine education standards in public schools. The Grade 9 students will join Senior School (Grades 10-12), choosing one of three major pathways: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), Social Sciences, or Arts & Sports.
The TSC faces significant challenges due to an inadequate budget allocation, which has resulted in a critical teacher shortage. Junior and senior schools require 129,392 teachers. The recent recruitment of permanent teachers and interns to bridge the gap has not made much of a difference.
