Government to hire 20,000 teachers on contract basis

The government has said it will hire 20,000 teachers on contract this financial year to in order to reduce the shortage experienced in schools.

The ongoing nationwide teachers' finally forced the government to convene a meeting on Wednesday evening between President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the Treasury and the Ministry of Education, where they resolved to hire more teachers on contract basis. (Read: Government to employ 18,000 teachers)

At a press conference, Education minister Prof Sam Ongeri said the government will hire teachers using this mode on a yearly basis until of 80,000 teachers is met.

“The Government will immediately embark on a recruitment of another 20,000 teachers on contract basis and will continue to do so at the same rate to substantially reduce the current shortage,” he said at Treasury building.

Teachers have held a nationwide strike since Monday due to shortage of staff that has culminated to heavy workload. They are demanding the government employ more teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.

However, the government insists there's shortage of funds to employ teachers on permanent terms, citing heavy financial burdens this fiscal year.

Prof Ongeri said that the 18,000 teachers hired last year on contract will continue to serve under those terms for the next three years before they are considered for permanent employment.

However, this will be subject to the approval of Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

With the government now calling on teachers to end their strike, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) said they are dissatisfied with the new developments.

KNUT Secretary General David Okuta told the Nation on phone Wednesday evening that the strike would continue.

“We did not ask the government to employ teachers on contract, those were not our prayers. The strike is still on,” he said in response to Prof Ongeri’s announcement.

They had demanded that 28,000 teachers be employed to reduce the burden of teaching.

Some public schools have such a severe shortage of staff that teachers have to attend to up to 120 pupils per class.

The teachers in public schools under their unions KNUT and KUPPET had refused to back down on their threats until the government concedes to ease their burdens.

They complained that despite the heavy workload, the pay was also low.

But Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta who also spoke to journalists said the current economic status would not allow for that condition to be met.

“We already opened up our books to them (KNUT and KUPPET) and showed our situation,” he said.

Mr Kenyatta said that the government will be forced to cut on other budget allocations to even fulfill this project of hiring on contract.

He said hiring of other government employees like nurses, some of whom work on contract will now stop.

Additionally, the government says the employment of teachers on contract is in line with an agreement it had with teachers last year in July.