Tutors who have remained jobless the longest since graduation will get the first priority when the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) hires this month, while those already serving as interns in secondary schools will automatically be absorbed to teach in junior high.
On Wednesday, TSC announced that those who qualified as teachers in 2010 or before and have not been in employed by the commission will score an automatic 60 per cent, while those who graduated this year and last year will have a five per cent score under the section of ‘length of stay since qualifying as teacher’. This will apply for primary and post-primary teachers.
This is according to guidelines for the recruitment of teachers released by the TSC that will be used as the commission hires 35,000 teachers this month.
Academic qualifications will also play a big role in the scoring. For graduate teachers, a first class honours degree will earn the applicant 35 per cent of the marks, a second class 30 per cent and a pass 25 per cent. For diploma holders, a distinction will score 30 per cent, a credit 25 per cent and a pass 20 per cent.
The application window will close tomorrow after which the TSC will develop the merit lists for the selection to start. Tomorrow, TSC regional and county directors will be taken through a ‘virtual sensitisation’ of the recruitment, including the guidelines.
The TSC yesterday also released a schedule of activities during the recruitment period. After the closure of the application window, the commission will embark on the generation of applicants’ lists, shortlisting by the sub-county selection panel and invitation for interviews. This will be completed on Friday next week.
“The merit lists shall be used in the current recruitment of teachers and any subsequent recruitment process within the financial year,” reads the guidelines.
The lists of shortlisted candidates will be submitted to TSC headquarters by the regional directors on December 27.
“The list of shortlisted applicants by subject combination shall immediately be submitted to the TSC county director who shall verify the lists, compile and submit the lists to TSC regional director who shall in turn verify, compile and submit the lists to the headquarters for publishing on the TSC website,” the guidelines read. This will be on December 30.
The country recruitment process will take place for eight days beginning on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, and ending on Thursday, January 12. The successful candidates will be vetted at the county level, where complaints will also be handled up to January 20. During the period, the hired teachers will sign internship agreements, offer of internship letters and those on permanent terms will sign offer of employment letters. They are all expected to report to school on January 23 when schools open.
The commission has also explained that applicants who have training in subjects that are currently not in the secondary school curriculum will not be eligible for recruitment, even if they have a post-graduate diploma in education.
Some of the areas of study that do not qualify include Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts in Natural Resources, Horticulture, Fisheries, Meteorology, Farm Machinery, Anthropology, Forestry, Sociology, Biotechnology, Animal Husbandry, Journalism, Theology and Divinity.
The recruitment has been hit by fears that politicians might interfere with it, forcing the commission CEO Nancy Macharia to declare that they have no role in the process.
Since the TSC announced the vacancies on Friday last week, some members of Parliament have been mobilising unemployed teachers from their regions and collecting their data, including copies of their academic certificates.
The Nation has seen letters reportedly issued by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Kabete MP James Githua Kamau, inviting unemployed teachers for meetings, even though the agenda is not specified in the letters.
There are fears that the intention is to lock out teachers who do not come from some regions from the recruitment.
In a video clip circulating online, Lurambi MP Titus Khamala says that non-locals will not be hired to teach in schools in the region and claims to have held meetings with TSC officers from the regional office to the national level.
