By Roy Hezron
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has announced that Public Service Commission (PSC) has promoted about 3,269 trainers to different job groups.
12 trainers have been promoted to the position of Chief Principal at job group ‘S’, 317 elevated to the positions of Senior Principals and vocational and technical trainer I Job Group ‘P’.
Another 1,373 officers have been promoted to serve as Principals of vocational and technical trainers job group ‘P’; 1,027 officers will now serve as Principal vocational and technical trainers I job group ‘N’; 231 trainers promoted to senior vocational and technical trainer job group ‘L’ and another 309 to serve as assistant trainers job group ‘K’.
Speaking at the Kenya School of TVET (KSTVET) – formerly Kenya Technical Trainers College (KTTC) – recently during a meeting with principals drawn from various TVET institutions across the country, Machogu said the measures to promote the lecturers was aimed at motivating them for better service delivery.
Machogu also promised to deal with issues of staff shortage in TVET institutions especially in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related courses.
“The current establishment of trainers in TVET institutions is 6,201 indicating a shortage of 8,817 trainers. This means that we are unable to meet the recommended trainer to trainee ratio of 1:30 for business courses and 1:20 for STEM courses,” said Machogu.
He added that he has been engaging with the National Treasury, which has now approved a phased recruitment of 3,000 additional trainers starting April this year.
“I have also requested the Public Service Commission to develop mechanisms to facilitate the recruitment of trainers on a rolling basis as vacancies arise due to attrition. This will ensure that vacancies are filled expeditiously on the basis of the existing budget, without having to seek new approvals,” he added.
