Learners who will join senior school next month require 58,590 extra teachers for specialised subject areas in the competency-based education (CBE) system.
The staffing gap affects all learning areas, but the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (Stem) pathway is worst hit.
According to Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Director of Quality Assurance Reuben Nthamburi, the demand is driven by the new senior school pathways.
Teachers Service Commission Director of Teacher Professional Management Dr Reuben Nthamburi.
“For the projected teacher requirements for Grade 10 in January 2026, the Stem pathway, which will take about 60 per cent of the learners, that is 677,144 with about 15,046 classes, we calculated it using a class of 45, we need around 35,111 teachers. For Social Sciences, we need around 14,630 teachers and Arts and Sports 8,778, that is about 58, 519,” said Dr Nthamburi.
TSC is also calling on universities and teacher training institutions to align their programmes with market demands, particularly in the Arts and Sports pathway, where there’s a significant shortage of specialists in music and dance, fine arts, theatre and film, sports and creative arts.
“In Stem, we need teachers in areas like general sciences, computer studies, aviation, electricity, media technology, building and construction, woodwork, and marine and fisheries. For Social Sciences, we’re short on teachers in indigenous languages, Sign language, Arabic, French, German and Mandarin,” said Dr Nthamburi.
“I don’t know if we have any university that has marine and fisheries teachers, if there is one, please see me so that we can begin absorbing them. We need marine and fisheries teachers next year,” he said.
The Teachers Service Commission Acting CEO Eveleen Mitei.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Groip
The commission plans to engage the Marine and Fisheries Institute in Mombasa to train technical professionals and convert them into classroom-ready instructors. It also intends to phase in recruitment in highly technical areas where shortages persist.
Dr Nthamburi stressed that ensuring a balanced teacher-to-student ratio in specialised subjects is critical for the success of CBE.
Currently, over 30000 secondary school and special needs education teachers are undergoing retraining as the Ministry of Education prepares for the transition of 1.1 million Grade 9 learners to Grade 10.
The training targets teachers from 9,626 secondary schools, including special needs and vocational institutions in more than 40 learning areas under the senior school curriculum.
According to the Ministry of Education, the retooling exercise is part of the ongoing efforts to ensure teachers are adequately prepared to deliver the curriculum effectively at the senior school level. The teachers are being trained by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, TSC and ministry officials.
Schools are also grappling with infrastructure gaps ahead of the transition, with calls from stakeholders to fast-track preparations to avoid disruptions when the academic year begins.
