Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has attributed teacher shortage and exodus from Coast, North Eastern and parts of the North Rift to insecurity.
Mr Machogu says teachers from other parts of the country posted to schools in these regions often abandon work or seek transfer to other counties.
It comes as Coast, North Eastern and North Rift residents accuse teachers of using the hardship areas as a stepping stone to jobs, only to seek transfer months later.
“For years, we have complaining about the tendency of people from other regions seeking teaching positions in North Eastern and then leaving after three years, citing insecurity. This marginalisation must end,” said Fardowse Abdi, an education stakeholder from Garissa.
Garsen MP Ali Wario and his Galole colleague Said Hiribae blamed the shortage of teachers in Tana River County to the abolishing of the delocalisation policy by the government. They said the move made teachers seek transfers to other regions.
A total of 20,055 public school tutors across the country applied for transfer after the government abolished the delocalisation policy in June.
The Jubilee government came up with the policy in an effort to promote national cohesion and integration, deter conflict of interest in the administration of schools, improve learning outcomes and address teacher shortage.
The Ministry of Education says 46,962 primary and secondary school teachers had requested to be transferred back to their home counties by June. However, only 20,055 succeeded.
The TSC received 35,959 primary school teacher applications for delocalisation, with 17, 942 being moved.
The government says it will come up with measures to address the challenge permanently, including affirmative action and recruiting locals.
“While teacher shortage is a countrywide problem, we have to recognise that it affects certain regions uniquely,” Mr Machogu said during the 63rd Kenya National Union of Teachers Annual Delegates Conference.
“Shortage in North Eastern, parts of the North Rift and the Coast is attributed to the general hardship and perceived insecurity.”
He added that the problem is aggravated by the low numbers of teacher trainees and trained tutors in these regions.
According to the TSC staffing data, for instance, some 3,227 non-local teachers are working in Mandera, Wajir and Garissa counties.
A total of 1,387 locals are teaching in primary, junior secondary and secondary schools in Mandera. The remaining 889 are non-locals.
Wajir has 1,002 teachers from the community while 1,221 are non-locals. Local tutors in Garissa are 808 against 1,136 from other regions.
Many non-local teachers in North Eastern region have been seeking transfer since the Garissa University attack in April 2015 that left 148 people dead and scores injured.
The carnage was blamed on al-Shabaab, a group designated as terrorist by Kenya and many other countries.
Following the attack, some 909 teachers pitched camp at the TSC headquarters demanding to be moved from North Eastern.
The commission instructed the teachers to report back to their stations but a number opted to resign.
After the mass transfer of non-local teachers from the region, the TSC restricted applications for employment to exclusively hire locals.
In 2021, the TSC Board noted a biting teacher shortage in North Eastern following extensive stakeholder engagements.
It also engaged leaders from the region to employ affirmative action by training locals to enrol for teaching courses. Teacher training colleges were then opened in Wajir, Garissa and Mandera.
To support the initiative, the commission took the decision to hire the local teachers upon graduation.
President William Ruto recently admitted that education in the Coast faces many challenges, citing teacher shortage as the main one.
He added that the government allocated 5,000 slots to the region in the recent teacher recruitment.
“Some 350 positions have not been filled. Leaders should encourage young people to enrol for education courses in colleges and universities,” he said during a meeting with leaders from the region last month.
Coast region has three teacher training colleges, including Bura, and Shanzu which were built by the government.
Kwale Teachers Training College, which was built by the devolved government, was officially opened by President Ruto on November 5, 2023.
Some 42 trainees have since graduated from the college. The institution has 404 students pursuing Diploma in Primary Teacher Education and Early Childhood Development Education.
Kilifi Governor, Gideon Mung’aro and his Taita Taveta colleague Andrew Mwadime have been calling on the Ministry of Education to address teacher shortage in the Coast.
The two governors say lack of teachers has dealt a blow to education standards in region’s six counties.
Mr Mung’aro blames the poor national examination results on a shortage of teachers in most Coast schools.
“That is why we are advocating for the employment of more teachers to bridge the gap,” Mr Mung’aro said at an education summit in Malindi recently.
“Some schools have many learners but lack teachers,” he said during a meeting with Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers officials.
According to Mr Machogu, the government has demonstrated a clear intent to deal with the problem once and for all.
“This administration has hired 56,750 teachers in just one year,” he said.
The CS said the government would ensure the teacher shortage is addressed sustainably and schools are resourced.
He added that the government is seeking long-term solutions to the education challenges in hardship regions.
“The ministry, the TSC and other stakeholders are developing workable solutions, in line with the affirmative action imperatives in the Constitution,” the minister said.
