Kenya Advertises 35,550 Teaching Vacancies to Bridge over 100,000 Shortfall

The Kenyan Teachers Service Commission has advertised vacancies for the employment of 35,550 teachers for both public primary and secondary schools.

In a statement on Friday, the commission said 10,000 of the teachers will be employed on permanent pensionable terms while 25,550 will be intern teachers.

“The Teachers Service Commission invites applications from qualified candidates to fill the following vacancies to support the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum,” the statement read in part.

It said 9,000 of the slots are for permanent secondary school teachers and 1,000 for primary school teachers while 21,550 slots are for intern teachers for Junior secondary schools.

The Commission said another 4000 intern teachers will be hired for primary schools.

The hiring of teachers is in line with a presidential directive issued in mid-October by President William Ruto.

A communiqué issued by the State House on October 13 said at least 30,000 teachers would be hired from January in the first phase of absorbing more than 116,000 teachers to bridge the existing gap in schools.

The communique issued after the first Cabinet meeting further said that President Ruto plans to work with the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) to upgrade school infrastructure.

TSC previously indicated that the country faced a severe teacher deficiency in primary and secondary schools with the shortage standing at 114,581 teachers.

However, CEO Nancy Macharia in early October said 14,460 new teachers would be hired and deployed across the country.

Speaking during the annual World Teachers Day celebrations, Macharia said new hires followed the allocation of Sh3.7 billion by the Treasury to hire teachers and address the shortfall occasioned by the 100 per cent transition of learners.

Macharia said then that Sh2.5 billion would go into hiring 5,000 secondary school teachers while Sh1.5 billion would hire primary school teachers.

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