As part of its plan to alleviate teacher shortages, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) would transfer graduate teachers from primary schools to the Junior Secondary School (JSS).
The Commission has said that it is now receiving applications from competent teachers prior to developing a plan for deploying such employees to specific schools.
At the same time, the Commission stated that all 30,550 newly hired teachers had arrived at the JSS to begin the new school year.
Public schools have been struggling with a severe lack of teachers during the last week as thousands of children made the transition from primary to junior high.
While acknowledging that there is a scarcity of teachers in JSS, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia was quick to emphasize that the government is looking into the matter.
She said that primary school teachers with graduate degrees were being sought out through the commission’s online application site.
Once the mapping is complete, she added, “we shall use the data acquired to move the competent teachers from elementary schools to junior secondary schools.”
Macharia added that the recently recruited teachers had reported to the JSS terming the current shortage as ‘teething-challenges’ during the transition.
The CEO gave a statement to the press after meeting with members of the Senate committee on education at Sawela Lodge in Naivasha.
She brought up the topic of delocalization once again, mentioning that more than 14,000 educators had been impacted and that the TSC had taken into consideration the problem of equality during the transfer process.
Joseph Nyuthu, head of the senate committee, called the paucity of teachers at JSS “worrying” and urged the government to take action.
The Senator from Murang’a expressed concern that the existing dire situation at JSS might worsen next school year with the addition of another set of students.
“The government should move fast and hire more teachers in JSS as this crisis could worsen come next year when more students join junior secondary schools,” he said.
The Senator brought up the SRC’s plan to cut ECDE teachers’ pay again, calling it a “abuse” of the school system.
In order to address the problem of ECDE and Vocational Training Centers, he stated the Senate will advocate for an annual budget of Sh2B for each county.
While pointing out that the SRC’s suggestion made no sense, Nyutu also warned that it may have a negative impact on the morale of those involved in the education system.
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