The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced competitive recruitment of deputy principals after dropping the requirement of a Master’s degree, which locked many applicants out last year.
Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia said the 91 positions are promotional and based on career progression guidelines adopted in 2017.
In the guidelines, promotion of teachers is based on existence of funded vacancies in the approved establishment, minimum qualifications per grade and relevant teacher professional development (TPD) modules.
Others are relevant experience and satisfactory performance.
The re–advertisement comes less than a month after TSC re-advertised 3,469 administrative positions.
“Interested candidates, who meet the required qualifications, should submit their applications online through the TSC portal, www.teachersonline.go.ke, so as to be received on or before February 21,” said Ms Macharia.
She went on: “Successful candidates will be deployed as deputy principals in national and extra county secondary schools in any county where the vacancies will be available.”
ROLES
The deputy principal I will report to the principal and will provide support to the principal in development and implementation of education plans, policies, programmes and curriculum activities.
“Those eligible must be serving under career progression guidelines; have served as Deputy Principal for a minimum period of three years, be currently serving as deputy principal II (D2) and have obtained a satisfactory rating in the performance appraisal process,” added the CEO.
A Master’s degree in a relevant area will be an added advantage.
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) had rejected the master’s degree requirement saying it had disadvantaged many teachers countrywide.
Those holding the position take home between Sh93,850 and Sh82,717.
INTERNS
Meanwhile, the TSC has managed to hire 8,532 intern teachers out of a target of 10,000, despite receiving more than 100,000 applications.
Mrs Macharia said the recruitment process is continuing.
She reported a success rate of 80 per cent in recruitment of interns who were deployed when schools re-opened on January 6.
“Their distribution is a follows: in Primary school 3,314 interns have been hired against a target of 4,000 while in secondary school, 5,118 interns out of the targeted 6,000 have been recruited,” said the CEO.
STRAIN
Last year, more than 102,918 trained but jobless teachers applied for the 10,300 internship positions the TSC advertised on October 8.
The huge recruitment drive was a desperate shot at easing a severe teacher shortage in the basic education sector, currently standing at more than 100,000.
It came as the government pushed for 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school.
According to Mrs Macharia, the increased enrolment in public secondary schools has left teachers strained.
“We are also replacing those who leave through natural attrition on a continuous basis. The TSC beseeches our teacher to do all they can to ensure high quality learning for our children,” said Mrs Macharia.
TSC is paying Sh15,000 and Sh10,000 for interns in secondary and primary schools respectively.
During last year’s interview many candidates failed to turn up for interview some citing poor pay while others were of idea that they risked missing out on permanent and pensionable terms recruitment set for this year.
NEW TEACHERS
The commission had registered a total of 41,629 new teachers as at December last year, a report indicates.
The new teachers join the more than 300,000 trained but jobless ones as schools grapple with a shortage of about 96,000.
A report by the commission indicates that from January to March, a total of 9,199 teachers were registered, 9,930 between April and June, 14,939 between July and September and 7,561 teachers between October and November.
According to the TSC Act 2012 Section 24(1), the commission is mandated to keep a register of teachers who are allowed to work in both public and private schools.
The TSC says the country has 328,324 trained and registered teachers who are not in government service.
However, the government only hired 1,000 teachers for primary schools last year.
BUDGET
This financial year, the government gave the TSC Sh3.2 billion to recruit 5,000 teachers, against an annual demand of 12,626.
The commission, in its latest five-year strategic plan, says it requires Sh82 billion for recruitment of teachers.
This, it says, will enable it address the shortage in schools that is expected to rise to 120,000 by 2023.On average, it will require Sh16.4 billion annually to employ teachers.
Besides the government’s push for the 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school, natural attrition has taken a heavy toll on the teaching force.
According to the 2019 Education Sector Report, the TSC failed to hire any primary school teachers in the year that ended last June.
The report shows that this was the only financial year since 2016-17 that the commission did not recruit any teachers for primary schools.