By Amoto Dennis
The 12,000 teachers recruited by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on internship under the Covid-19 stimulus reported to their various stations on Monday.
The TSC hired the interns at a budget of 2.4 billion shillings with a central aim of reducing the pressure among teachers and also to fill the gap occasioned by reducing the number of learners per class to 15 thus increasing the number of classrooms.
The interns posted to secondary and primary schools will earn sh20, 000 and sh15, 000 respectively. However, the TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia had earlier asked parliament to release sh17 billion to hire 26,000 interns which means the 12,000 interns fall far much off her target to meet the Covid-19 related increased workload.
Macharia further asked for sh25 billion for reopening preparation and yearly Sh8.1 billion to hire 12,500 tutors to fill the normal annual shortage.
Macharia’s sentiments were supported by, the KUPPET Secretary-General Akelo Misori who pointed out that public schools need 50, 000 tutors to fill the said gap in 2021 citing that some tutors will be retiring and others will be working from home.
According to his estimated analysis, the commission further needs 15,000 tutors annually for the education ship to sail smoothly in the next five years.
Unfortunately, despite the urgent need to meet the right staffing levels as schools reopen amid Covid-19 related myriads since the financial impotence has taken a toll on the economy.
Dr. Macharia revealed that the commission employed 23,700 tutors since 2017. In the current financial year, the TSC received a budget of Sh2.5 billion to employ 5,000 tutors.
