Government has announced plans to recruit at least 20,000 teachers in a bid to bridge the national shortage, the Teachers Service Commission saying 18,000 of these intern instructors will be assigned to junior high and high schools.
The balance of 2,000 intern teachers will be sent to primary schools to assist with the implementation of the new curricula.
As a result, qualified educators will now have twelve days to submit their applications for open teaching posts in both junior secondary and primary schools.
Those hired for Junior Secondary will be expected to teach a variety of subjects as part of the curriculum and will receive a monthly compensation of Ksh20,000. Primary school teachers would make Ksh15,000.
According to TSC CEO Nancy Macharia, the internship contract, which lasts for one year and is intended to prepare and maintain the competences of those joining the teaching profession, will expire at the end of its term.
The program aims to place registered teachers who are unemployed in learning institutions where they would receive coaching, mentoring, and exposure to real-world teaching situations, according to Macharia.
The hiring comes two weeks after Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u said that KSh4.8 billion had been set aside by the government to fund the hiring of additional intern teachers.
According to a TSC statement, teachers need to have at least a diploma in education and a minimum of C+ (Plus) and C+ (Plus) in two teaching subjects in KCSE in order to teach in JSS.
The teacher must also be Kenyan and registered with TSC.
P1 certificate holders who wish to apply to teach in elementary schools must also be registered with the commission.
The commission did limit the positions to new hires who had not previously worked as interns, permanent employees, or pensionable employees. Candidates will also be advertised in the counties where they have applied or where there are openings.
Ndung’u stated that the government’s ultimate goal is to build an equal society, which is a component of human capital, while presenting this year’s budget.
The funding comes from the sector’s KSh628.6 billion budget allocation for this year.
Macharia reassured the country that the commission will hire at least 25,000 teachers per year for the next five years, subject to money being available.
The government hired 36,000 teachers in January of this year to help schools fill the long-standing 116,000 teacher deficit.
Currently, each intern teacher receives a monthly pay of KSh15,000 in primary schools and KSh20,000 in high schools.
