Tsc has announced the recruitment of teacher interns to plug the biting shortage at the basic education level that stands at 100% today. This shortage has been exacerbated by the government’s programme of free basic education and the most campaigned for 100% transition to secondary school. Consequently, the learning conditions have worsened with the teacher-student ratio standing at 1:60. It is on this backdrop that the MPs allowed the Teachers commission to hire 87,393 interns to ease the biting shortage. The national assembly education committee chairman Julius Melly requested Dr Nancy Macharia and her team to come up with a policy document to be tabled at parliament to root for the recruitment sometimes early this year.
Qualifications for applicants and deadlines
Those qualified have been invited to send their applications by the 23rd October 2019. They must also be ready to be posted anywhere in the country. Those applying must be 35 years and below. They must be registered teachers with the commission(TSC number), they must be jobless and must have a minimum p1 and diploma for primary and secondary recruitment respectively. Besides, the applicants must have a personal accident insurance to cover for personal risks during the 12- month internship period. The advertisement for the recruitment shall be published in the Daily nation paper on the 8th of October 2019(Tuesday)
Salaries and deductions
According to the sources from TSC, it is confirmed that primary school teacher interns will pocket 10,000 while their secondary school counterparts will smile all the way to the bank to cash 15,000. It is important to note that these incomes are subject to statutory deductions. This is stuff like NSSF, NHIF among others.
The Grand promise
Tsc has confirmed that the successful interns will be offered permanent jobs. However, this will depend on the usual conditions: availability of funds and the interns’ performance.
Knut boss- Wilson Sossion’s blessings
The embattled KNUT boss Wilson Sossion has backed the recruitment. He, however, cautioned the commission to carry out the exercise in strict adherence to the labour laws governing such processes.
Staggering numbers of pupils and students
It is important to note that the ever-swelling numbers of learners in public schools have thrown school managers to panic mode. This is because the resources allocated to schools are not commensurate with the recruitment of teachers and the provision of other essentials in these schools. Survey on the ground indicate that the shortage of teachers in secondary schools stand at a whopping 85,258 this year up from 57,380 last year. In primary the shortage stands at 30,357. This is so bearing in mind that the ministry has to plan for the 10million pupils and about 2.8 million students. This severe shortage has forced the school managers to hire teachers on BOM terms to alleviate the situation. This has created another challenge on matters funds because the government subsidies are not for personal emoluments forcing them to survive on shoestring budgets in a bid to implement learning programmes in schools. The swelling numbers also have strained teachers especially those on duty leading to low morale and possible burnouts.
Subjects with biting shortage.
According to TSC some of the worst-hit subjects in teacher distribution are physics, cre, history, agriculture, English and math. These subjects have fewer teacher trainees even at the teacher training institutions and universities. It is ironical that schools are experiencing these acute shortages yet the country has 328,324 trained but jobless teachers!
