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Kakamega, Bungoma, Kitui and Nakuru counties will get the lion’s share of teachers to be hired during the ongoing recruitment drive to fill 36,000 new vacancies.

A document shared by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) with a committee of Parliament yesterday shows that Kakamega will get 1,449 teachers followed by Kitui, which will get 1,445. Nakuru completes the top three beneficiaries with 1,223 teachers.

Others are Bungoma (1,208), Meru (1,120), Makueni (1,056) and Machakos (1,050).The seven counties are the only ones that will get more than 1,000 teachers each.

All the others will get fewer, with Kisii having 995 vacancies, Homa Bay having 975 slots, and Narok closing the top 10 beneficiaries with 912 slots. Kiambu is a distant 12th with 846 vacancies after Migori, which has 851 slots.

Most of the new teachers will be deployed to teach in Grade Seven, the pioneer Junior Secondary School class under the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC).

Candidates in Grade Six sat their national exams last month and are expected to join Junior Secondary in either January or February although the Ministry of Education has directed that the results from the exams will not be used to determine Grade Seven placement. Earlier this month, TSC said it would hire new teachers and interns to improve the delivery of CBC, in line with a pledge by the new political administration that took over the government in September.

Yesterday, the teachers’ employer gave a breakdown of how various counties will share the new jobs. The schedule reveals that the sparsely populated historically marginalised regions will get the lowest number of new teachers.

Isiolo, for instance, will get the lowest number of new teachers at only 119 – less than a tenth of what the densely populated Kakamega will get.

Lamu will fare much better with 131 vacancies, while Samburu will get 174 slots. Garissa has 190 vacancies, Marsabit 191, Tana River and Mombasa 192 each and Wajir 239 slots. They are behind Mandera, which will get 268 new teachers, Taita Taveta (274), Turkana (332), Kirinyaga (342) and Laikipia (353).

Last month, Members of Parliament (MPs) approved a Motion requiring that all teachers be hired locally, meaning that teachers will only get jobs in their counties of birth, registration or residence. That means candidates cannot seek jobs outside their home counties even if they are qualified to fill the positions.

Strict guidelines

Last week, TSC gave strict guidelines to be used during the interviews, stating the qualifications expected of the successful candidates and how interview panels will be constituted. Commission Secretary Nancy Macharia said there would be no role for legislators in the process. TSC officials, led by their board members, appeared before Parliament’s Education Committee, which is chaired by Tinderet MP Julias Melly, where they defended the ongoing recruitment, saying it will be above board.

Board Chairperson Jamleck Muturi and Director Legal Kevin Anyuor —who represent chief executive Nancy Macharia — told lawmakers that they had developed guidelines to govern how the recruitment would be conducted.

All teachers, they said, will be considered irrespective of their age.

“The Teachers Service Commission received authority from the National Treasury to recruit 30,000 teachers to alleviate the shortage of teachers in the country. The newly recruited teachers will report to schools in January 2023,” Muturi said.

According to him, the distribution will see each school being allocated at least one teacher for Grade Seven.

Of the 36,000 slots, Muturi said, the commission had advertised for 35,550 slots out of which 9,000 will be on permanent and pensionable terms of service for secondary school teachers. Another 1,000 will be on permanent and pensionable terms for primary and 4,000 for teacher interns in primary schools.

The remaining 450 slots from the 36,000 are for the 8-4-4 system, which is to be phased out in two years. These positions will be advertised after the close of the current recruitment drive.

“Teachers who graduated earlier will be given priority,” Muturi said. “The score sheet and selection criteria will be made public to enhance transparency as the candidates will be able to score themselves.” After the two TSC representatives had made their presentation, committee members, led by Melly, took them to task, demanding to know whether the teachers will be enough to address the current shortage.

“We have called you here so that you can tell us exactly how this recruitment exercise will be done. This matter is of national importance, especially at this time when we have a huge teacher shortage in the country,” Melly said.

Marakwet West MP Timothy Toroitich also sought to know whether the commission was aware that one teacher per class was not adequate, especially now that the country is implementing CBC.

“We are planning to build laboratories and you are telling us that you will recruit one teacher to go to junior secondary schools. Is this in line with CBC?” he asked.

Nyamira Woman Representative Jerusha Momanyi sought to know whether the new teachers would also act as managers.

“How will this even work?” she asked.

Malava MP Malulu Injendi sought to know whether there was any special consideration that will be given to teachers who graduated earlier from universities.

“I seek to know whether teachers who are either 45 or 46 years old will be employed during this exercise. Are you giving them any special consideration?” he asked.

Yesterday’s meeting came against the background of an insistence by lawmakers that they have a role to play in the hiring of new teachers.

Several MPs ignored the guidelines TSC issued and mobilised their constituents to apply for the jobs despite the commission saying lawmakers had no role in the recruitment. Thousands of unemployed teachers turned up for the meeting following notices issued by their respective MPs.