The country’s education sector is grappling with a deepening teacher shortage, with practical subjects such as Home Science, Social Studies and Creative Arts among the hardest hit.
Thousands of newly trained teachers remain unemployed, while many who were absorbed into schools are leaving the profession altogether for more lucrative private ventures.
Speaking at a teacher education conference in Mombasa, Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Director of Quality Assurance Reuben Nthamburi lamented the exodus of Home Science teachers, noting that some schools have been forced to drop the subject entirely.
“Many Home Science teachers are leveraging their skills in baking to start private businesses. Some schools no longer teach the subject because we simply do not have the teachers,” Nthamburi said.
Nthamburi explained that private ventures often provide better earnings than government salaries, making retention difficult. “Even if we employ them, they leave to start bakeries and cake businesses. That is the reality we are facing. A number of them are doing better outside the classroom,” he added.
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He also questioned why universities had stopped offering Home Science courses, further limiting the pipeline of qualified teachers.
The shortage is not confined to Home Science. Nthamburi revealed that under both the phased-out 8-4-4 curriculum and the new Competency-Based Education (CBE) system, schools are struggling to staff critical subjects. He said senior schools alone require 157,476 teachers but currently have only 130,899, leaving a deficit of 26,577.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba acknowledged the crisis, stating that despite large-scale recruitment in recent years, the country still faces a shortfall of 137,500 teachers. “The shortage is acute in specialised subjects such as social studies, integrated science, pre-technical studies and vocational fields.
This underscores the urgent need for expanded and targeted training programmes at diploma and degree levels,” he said.
Data from the TSC shows junior schools are short of 72,422 teachers, while senior schools face a deficit of 65,070. The Commission currently manages 431,831 teachers, yet another 369,430 are registered but remain outside the government payroll. At present, about 129,847 teachers are deployed across more than 9,500 secondary schools nationwide, with Music, Arts, French and other foreign languages also suffering severe shortages.
By Masaki Enock
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