The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is projecting to recruit 211,870 teachers over the next five years, the Commission Secretary and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Nancy Njeri Macharia has said.
Speaking today during the launch of the Commission’s new 5-year 2023-2027 Strategic Plan at the Kenya School of Government, Dr. Macharia noted that the teachers will be recruited as either interns or on permanent and pensionable terms adding that the Commission has made tremendous gain in the journey towards the professionalism of the teaching service in its 2019-2023 Strategic Plan.
“As we hold today’s launch, we must also recognize that the Commission has made major strides under the Strategic Plan 2019-2023. We have made tremendous gains in the journey towards the professionalization of the teaching service,” said Dr. Macharia.
“During the five-year plan period, we project to recruit a total of 211,870 teachers either as interns or on permanent and pensionable terms,” added Dr. Macharia stating that they have taken a keen interest on the welfare of teachers in the new Strategic Plan.
Dr. Macharia further stated that for successful implementation of the new Strategic Plan over the five years, the Commission will require an additional budget of Ksh134,493,190,000 (134.4 billion).
In the previous 2019-2023 Strategic Plan, the Commission projected an overall budget which was required for the successful delivery of planned targets at Ksh114.5 billion which included the cost of recruiting 95,000 additional teachers and 20,000 interns per annum in the next five years estimated at Ksh82.4 billion.
In the 2023/2024, TSC was allocated Ksh323. 7 billion, an increase of Ksh24 billion compared to the allocation of 2022/2023 Financial Year. The allocation includes Kshs4.68 billion for the recruitment of 20,000 teacher interns, Kshs1 billion for promotion of teachers, and Ksh1.3 billion for capacity building of teachers on the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
By June 30, 2018 the Commission estimated a shortage of 96,345 teachers with 38,054 at Primary and 58,291 at Post-Primary school level respectively; with the shortage being attributed to rapid growth in school enrolment and various initiatives in the education sector that necessitated the establishment of new and expansion of existing schools.
These initiatives include the Government’s 100% transition policy from primary to secondary school, with TSC projecting the teacher shortage at 61,671 for secondary and 34,941 for primary schools by this year 2023. The Commission only recruited a total of 28,843 teachers from 2014-2018.
Speaking while presiding over the Strategic Plan launch, Prime Cabinet Secretary (CS) and Chief Guest Musalia Mudavadi stated that the journey to lifelong learning remains the government’s main focus.
“Education is a critical enabler in achieving the aspirations of this agenda [the Bottom up Economic Transformation Agenda]. Iam impressed that TSC will continue to retool teachers to improve curriculum delivery,” he said.
“The new Strategic Plan aligns TSC to both national and international agenda, specifically the Vision 2030 and Bottom up Empowerment Agenda (BETA),” he added.
Education CS Ezekiel Machogu stated that they will roll out a raft of reforms arising from the recommendations bythe Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER), which will guide the Ministry and government agencies to lead the education sector in the right direction.
The Commission has so far trained 289,000 teachers in a bid to enhance the continuing transition of Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) and its implementation, and further trained 163,938 teachers on the implementation of remote learning as an alternative mode of curriculum delivery.
During the launch, TSC also unveiled a new Vision: “A motivated, ethical and globally competitive teacher” and Mission: “To regulate, maintain and manage the teaching service through sound policies and operational excellence for quality teaching and lifelong learning.”
Kenya Primary Schools Headteachers Association (KEPSHA) National Chairman Johnson Nzioka stated that they are going to work with the Commission to ensure that the objective and vision of the new strategic plan are achieved.
“We are happy that TSC has come up with a new Vision. This alone makes every teacher of this country proud. We as teachers are very proud of our employer. We were called to validate the Strategic Plan we are launching today. We are happy,” he said.
In the 2019-2023 Strategic Plan, the Commission’s Vision and Mission were “A transformative teaching service for quality education” and “To professionalize the teaching service for quality education and Development” respectively.
By Roy Hezron
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