The government has announced plans to hire an additional 20,000 teachers in the next financial year at a cost of Sh4 billion in a bid to address the current shortage mainly in Junior Secondary Schools (JSS).
The development follows last week’s agreement between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet).
This as the teachers’ employer has also agreed to convert all the 26,000 intern teachers recruited in 2023 to permanent and pensionable terms in January 2025.
Out of the 20,000 teachers set to be absorbed in the JSS, 2,000 would be posted to arid and semi-arid regions.
Kuppet Secretary-General Akello Misori said TSC has agreed to their demand to review the career progression guidelines that have contributed to stagnation among teachers as well as to develop new guidelines through public participation.
The move would see 50,000 teachers who have stagnated since 2017 benefit with 30,000 promoted in the financial year ending June 2025.
“The Commission will seek an allocation of Sh1 billion for the promotion of 30,000 teachers who have stagnated for years,” Mr Misori said.
The big win, however, comes after pressure from senators on TSC over recruitment and career-growth plans for contract teachers.
The lawmakers also wanted more light shed on alleged discrimination and the fate of tutors hired on contract terms by the agency with the lawmakers demanding answers from the Ms Nancy Macharia-led commission on its plans for the tutors.
Led by nominated Senator Esther Okenyuri, the legislators wanted TSC to explain whether the teachers were eligible for employment on permanent terms.
Ms Okenyuri wanted the TSC boss summoned to explain whether the contract-employed teachers are eligible for employment on permanent and pensionable terms by the Commission as well as allay concerns over claims of discrimination during regular replacement, recruitment and employment of permanent and pensionable teachers.
Further, she wanted the Commission to disclose the total number of teachers currently employed on non-permanent and pensionable terms, and state how many are hired per year of recruitment.
“The Commission should elaborate the career growth path plans in place to grow and advance the careers of these young contract employed teachers,” Ms Okenyuri said.
“They should also indicate where in the TSC human resource policy or TSC regulations the career growth of teachers hired on contract is captured,” she added.
The development came after thousands of JSS teachers hired on contract basis threatened to strike after TSC announced plans to extend their contracts instead of hiring them on permanent and pensionable terms, a move that the Kenya National Union of Teachers also opposed.
Responding to the senators, Ms Macharia said recruitment of teachers on contractual terms was mostly done in Mandera, Garissa, Wajir and Lamu counties to address teacher shortage in the four counties occasioned by insecurity.
To this end, the Commission in a bid to address the shortage in the four counties occasioned by mass transfer of teachers in 2020, engaged a total of 500 teachers on contract.
She explained that the Commission only engages on contract only teachers who have attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 years. Such contracts are for a period of three years or attainment of 65 years, whichever comes first.
Further, the TSC boss said the teachers on contract are not eligible for employment on permanent and pensionable terms as they do not take part in such recruitment.
“Noting the short period of the contract and the fact that the teachers had already attained their highest grade prior to retirement, the Commission has no policy in place tailored for their career progression,” said Ms Macharia.
Nonetheless, Senator Okenyuri criticised the Commission for solely relying on retired teachers for contract positions, failing to utilise the massive pool of qualified and capable youthful teachers seeking stable TSC employment.
She argued that beyond award of additional marks during recruitment, the Commission's lack of elaborate plans for transitioning of JSS teachers into permanent employment is negligent of its responsibility to harness and support the growth of these aspiring educators.
“We need to develop comprehensive policies for recruiting and retaining teaching workforce in our Education Sector, failure of which will not only hamper our education system but also undermine aspirations of our otherwise promising teaching workforce,” said Senator Okenyuri.
