During the release of the KCSE examinations today, the Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Dr Nancy Macharia, the commission is looking to hire 6,000 interns to help alleviate Kenya’s teacher shortage.
TSC CEO Macharia has said that the National Treasury has approved the release of 1.2 billion rupees for the purpose of hiring and compensation of interns. Most of these interns will be assigned to secondary schools in the sub-county.
According to TSC chief Dr. Macharia, there is a shortage of 114,581 teachers in Kenya. Dr. Macharia speaks during the release of the 2021 KCSE results at the Kenya National Council of Examinations (KNEC) Headquarters on Saturday, April 23.
According to Dr. Macharia , TSC has hired 28,000 interns to help manage the shortage. The TSC CEO further said that the National Treasury had released Sh2.5 billion to employ 5,000 more teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
In a statement, Macharia said, “I would like to assure the nation that the commission will immediately start the exercise for the recruitment of teachers to ensure that they report to work at the earliest, so that the existing teacher shortage in schools is addressed.”
Teachers who do outstanding work will be recognized through a new award program Mwalimu Awards.
Again according to Macharia, President Uhuru Kenyatta has accepted the proposal outlining the award process.
The TSC chief also announced that from Monday, April 25, secondary school teachers would be trained on CBC to prepare for the launch of junior secondary in January 2023.
According to the TSC chief, 1,594 school principals who were set to retire in 2020 or 2021 but had their contracts extended to avoid a leadership crisis as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, can now retire.
According to Macharia, the vacancies they will leave will be filled by January 2023. The secondary school headmaster and the primary school headmaster are among the school leaders.
Dr. Macharia also praised the 16,000 teachers who, despite being advised to stay at home due to Covid-19, faced the dangers of the disease and reported working physically.
