The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has declared 2,014 vacancies following natural attrition in a move aimed at easing staffing shortages in schools.
The teachers who will be hired on permanent and pensionable terms will fill up 637 slots in senior secondary schools and another 32 in junior schools.
Majority of the recruits will be posted to fill 1,309 slots in primary schools in the digitized application window set to close on May 19 2025.
“The Teachers Service Commission is declaring 2,014 vacancies to replace teachers who exited service through natural attrition i.e. 1,309 posts for primary schools, 32 posts for junior schools and 673 posts for secondary schools. The teachers recruited will serve on Permanent and Pensionable terms of service,” the TSC said in a notice.
Public primary schools that host junior have born the most staffing challenges following the transition of more than one million learners to Grade 9 under the competency based curriculum (CBC).
Last year, the government converted 39,550 junior school teachers from contract to permanent terms, while an additional 8,378 primary school tutors were redeployed to teach in junior schools following upgrades.
But despite these efforts, a biting teacher shortage persists in the 20,000 junior schools with TSC data showing a deficit of 72,422 tutors.
The shortage of staff in schools has resulted in overstretched teachers, overcrowding in classrooms and a lack of subject specialists required for proper implementation of the CBC.
The government started the rollout of the CBC in 2018, introducing disruptive changes where elementary education is divided into pre-primary and primary, taking two and six years respectively.
This means that the final class in primary school is Grade six after which learners transition to Junior secondary starting from Grade 7 up to Grade 9.
CBC which emphasizes practical learning and personalized instruction, requires smaller class sizes and subject-specific teaching expertise—further intensifying the teacher shortage.
Applicants for the advertised positions must be Kenyans, holders of P1 certificate if aiming for the primary school or hold a diploma in education in the case of junior and secondary schools as well as be registered teachers with the TSC.
The job advertisement come in the wake of demands by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) that the TSC uses the highest academic credentials while recruiting teachers instead of their Form Four results.
