Lack of skills stalls teacher hiring drive

FILE | NATION. The hiring of teachers on contract by the Teachers Service Commission in Taita District has stalled due to lack of qualified applicants. Above, TSC headquarters in Nairobi.

A shortage of qualified applicants has stalled the recruitment of secondary school teachers in Taita District of Coast Province.

The hiring of teachers on contract by the Teachers Service Commission started last month.

Education officer Samuel Nyantika said the district had a shortage of about 70 teachers but only 21 had been recruited.

“We still have a shortage of more than 50 teachers,” he said.

The biggest shortage

Although a large number of applicants turned up for the recruitment, the majority were qualified to teach science subjects, yet the biggest shortage was in humanities and languages.

“We currently do not need science teachers, but desperately need those who have done languages, in particular English, and subjects like geography and history,” Mr Nyantika said.

He said filling the 71 vacant positions in primary schools had not been a problem because applicants do not need to specialise.

The Government decided to hire new teachers on three-year contracts to meet a serious shortage of teachers in the country.