TSC orders audit of teacher posting
Nancy Macharia, the chief executive officer of the Teachers Service Commission. The commission has ordered an audit of the distribution of more than 7,000 teachers recruited in October after it emerged that posting rules were flouted. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- TSC county directors were directed to indicate the shortage being addressed once the posting is finalised.
- A total of 1,225 teachers were recruited to teach in secondary schools and 3,775 for primary schools.
- A further 2,157 teachers were hired to replace those who have left the service through natural attrition, with 1,618 posts for primary schools and 539 for post-primary schools and institutions.
The Teachers Service Commission has ordered an audit of the distribution of more than 7,000 teachers recruited this month after it emerged that its officers flouted posting rules.
TSC gave its county directors until January 16 to prepare a detailed report on the schools that received teachers.
“The commission is determined to address staffing gaps in public schools across the country through equitable distribution of teachers,” said the acting director, Teacher Management, Mrs Dinah Mwaita, in a letter to TSC county directors dated October 26.
She added: “However, in its pursuit to ensure teachers are equitably distributed, it has been reported that some of you, our county directors, are flouting policies, thus posting teachers to already well-staffed schools.”
The officers were directed to indicate the shortage being addressed once the posting is finalised.
“Please take note of this and ensure teachers are only posted to needy schools,” said Mrs Mwaita.
A total of 1,225 teachers were recruited to teach in secondary schools and 3,775 for primary schools.
A further 2,157 teachers were hired to replace those who have left the service through natural attrition, with 1,618 posts for primary schools and 539 for post-primary schools and institutions.
SHORTAGE OF TEACHERS
Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i recently told the National Assembly’s Education Committee that, even though the country has a shortage of teachers, distribution of available teachers has not been done well.
In a detailed report that Dr Matiang’i presented to the members of Parliament, only six out 47 counties have sufficient teachers in primary schools, while all secondary schools have a shortage.
He said Kenya has a deficit of 87,489 teachers — 39,913 in primary schools and 47,576 in secondary.
There are 290,000 teachers serving about 10.2 million learners in 28,000 public secondary and primary schools.
Teachers unions have demanded the recruitment of more than 90,000 tutors at Sh18.4 billion to plug the gap.
“We will continue to engage TSC so that we can have more teachers to serve our children,” said Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion.
TSC has a budget of Sh192billionwith majority of it goes towards payment of salaries for teachers.
“We propose that TSC hires 40,000 teachers next year and clears balance of 50,000 in 2018/2019 to address the deficit,” said Mr Sossion.
The report indicates that in primary schools, Kitui County is the most affected with a shortage of 2,562, followed by Kakamega County which has a shortage of 2,442, Turkana has a shortage of 2,127 teachers, Narok(2388) and Homa Bay has a shortage of 2,182.
