TSC to Recruit 20k Teachers for Junior Secondary Schools Amid Shortage

 

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced that it will recruit 20,000 teachers for junior secondary schools, amid a nationwide shortage of tutors. TSC is set to conduct another recruitment drive. Image for illustration. What will be the terms for JSS teachers? TSC chief executive officer (CEO) Nancy Macharia revealed the teachers would be hired on contract, giving opportunities to thousands of jobless graduates. Macharia told the National Assembly's Committee on Education that science teachers will be given priority during the upcoming recruitment exercise.

 The positions will be advertised next week. "We have a crisis, and we need to look for ways to address it. We have to agree that there is a shortage of science teachers. When advertisements for physics teachers are made, nobody applies," she said, as quoted by Daily Nation. How many teachers applied for 46k slots? TSC revealed that 314,117 jobless teachers applied for 46,000 vacancies it advertised on October 1. This shows the high unemployment rate facing graduates amid the high cost of living in the country. 

The applications were received between October 1 and October 8, and several teachers will be without jobs as the number of applicants was much higher than the number of slots. TSC advertised 6,000 vacancies for primary teachers, which attracted 93,646 applicants.  At the same time, the commission declared 450 secondary slots but received 76,294 applications. On the other hand, 144,117 candidates submitted their applications for 39,550 junior secondary school jobs. TSC faces shortage of science teachers Macharia raised the alarm over the country's critical shortage of science teachers despite over 400,000 unemployed teachers nationwide. 

She told MPs that TSC was not shying away from addressing the teacher shortage and promised that recruitment and redistribution efforts were underway across all counties. However, Macharia admitted that the problem stems from very few educators applying for the positions when advertised. 

by  Japhet Ruto