The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will hire 35,000 teachers next year, president William Ruto has confirmed.
During an interview with media outlets on 14th May 2023, President William Ruto emphasized his government’s commitment to resolving the crisis faced by junior secondary schools.
Ruto proudly announced a significant education milestone in his administration.
He confirmed that following the budget for the current year, funds will be allocated to the recruitment body responsible for hiring and deploying the 35,000 teachers.
“I made the decision to hire 35,000 teachers, the highest number ever and we are going to hire 35,000 more next year.”
This move aims to address the existing shortage of educators, which currently stands at a substantial 110,000 teachers.
“We have a shortage of 110,000 teachers and I am going to fill that gap.” He said.
The decision to recruit such a substantial number of teachers is expected to have far-reaching implications for the education system.
With an increased teacher-to-student ratio, classrooms will become more conducive to effective learning and individual attention.
The Kenya Kwanza government pledged during its campaign to employ 116,000 teachers.
Over 30,000 Teachers Hired
Staying true to their promise, the government has already hired over 35,000 teachers in the initial phase of implementation.
Out of the 35,000 teachers recruited, 5,000 have been deployed to primary schools nationwide, while the remaining 30,000 have been assigned to junior secondary schools.
These 30,000 teachers will play a crucial role in implementing the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) in schools.
To ensure that the junior secondary school (JSS) teachers are well-prepared for their responsibilities TSC organized a retooling process in March.
This training aimed to equip them with the necessary skills to effectively handle learners in JSS.
The training began on Monday, 13th, and concluded on Friday, 17th, despite objections from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), which disagreed with the TSC’s decision to extend the training until Sunday, 19th.
The Teachers Service Commission has now announced that it will advertise another batch of 35,000 teaching positions to accommodate qualified and registered teachers.
All these additional teachers will be posted to junior secondary schools to bridge the existing gap in many schools across the country.