The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has warned that the insufficient budgetary allocations, teacher shortage, are bound to worsen the 2026 rollout of senior school.
This has been revealed by a report of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) of the National Assembly, which cautions that the current teacher shortage in public schools threatens the education standards in public schools.
The committee chaired by Suba South MP Caroli Omondi also decried imbalance in teacher distribution across the country, citing populous counties such as Kakamega among those facing excessive teacher workloads, leading to burnout.
“The committee noted that counties like Kakamega specifically demonstrate severely inadequate teacher distribution ratios,” reads the report, adding that the teacher distribution imbalance has seen certain constituencies’ experience “complete absence of teaching staff while others maintain adequate coverage.”
In the current financial year, TSC was allocated Ksh378.2 billion out of which, Ksh2.4 billion is for the recruitment of permanent teachers and Ksh7.2 billion for the hiring of intern teachers for junior school.
“The commission faces significant challenges in fulfilling its mandate to recruit and employ registered teachers. The primary impediment is the inadequate budget allocation, which has resulted in critical teacher shortage,” the report states.
ALSO READ:
Blow to JSS interns as TSC, MoE say internship doesn’t guarantee automatic absorption into PnP
The effects of the shortages on learning are compounded by the rising number of learners, new subjects and lack of adequate infrastructure such as classes and laboratories, with rural schools disproportionately affected.
The report notes that the commission lacks qualified teachers in new learning areas, which include leather craft, sculpturing, jewellery and ornament making, media technology, marine and fisheries technology, general science and indigenous languages.
Documents presented to Parliament show that junior and senior schools require around 129,392 teachers.
The recent recruitment of permanent teachers and interns by the government to bridge the gap has not made the situation better, the report notes.
TSC is captured in the report stating that it has not achieved optimal teacher numbers since its establishment, highlighting the “persistent nature of this challenge”.
The report further notes that the teacher shortage crisis has been complicated by the irregular establishment of new schools “without corresponding budgetary provisions for teaching staff.”
“The proposed solutions include securing increased budgetary allocations from the National Assembly for teacher recruitment, strengthening coordination among stakeholders to ensure planned school establishment and implementing advisories to the national government for training teachers in new learning areas,” reads the document.
ALSO READ:
The report further indicates that TSC encounters challenges with training institutions admitting teacher trainees who lack the requisite qualifications for registration as teachers.
“This practice undermines the quality and standards expected in the teaching profession and creates complications in the registration process,” it states.
The report adds that teachers also face security threats from bandits, Al-Shabaab and hostile communities, “making assignments to these areas difficult to fill and maintain.”
By Our reporter
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
>>> Click here to read more informed opinions on the country’s education landscape
