TSC Issues more than 700 Deployment Letters to P1 Teachers

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has issued more than 700 deployment letters to counties. By Monday, 1st of March, the commission had distributed a total of 726 deployment letters.

This indicates that an extra number of practising PI graduate teachers, previously in job grade BS and momentarily in CI, will be posted to teach in high schools with a monthly salary ranging from Shs. 27, 195 to Shs. 34,900 awaiting them.

The teachers’ employer had advertised 2,000 deployment slots for practising PI graduate teachers with C+ (plus) at KCSE and a C+ (plus) in two of their teaching subjects.

In December 2020, TSC also advertised a thousand jobs as well as in September 2019 and 2020 consecutively. The positions were applied online however the commission has delayed in posting the teachers to secondary school.

According to TSC records, about 6,347 teachers in primary schools have a degree with C+ at KCSE and C+ in the teaching subjects which is a qualification for one to teach in high school.

395 letters were released during school resumption. Another 331 deployment letters were issued this week where teachers with Science subjects combination were most preferred.

Mombasa county received 24 letters in the 2nd batch while Kericho, Tana River and Narok got 22, 16and 30 consecutively. Kwale County got 19 letters.

These teachers will begin at job grade Q and Succeedingly move to job grade C3 following 3 years of completion under the teachers’ Career Progression Guidelines (CPG). The plan by TSC to promote teachers is aiming at reducing the critical shortage of teacher in secondary schools.

Kenya is staring at an acute staffing crisis in public high schools. A double intake is expected before the end of 2023 to necessitate the hiring of an extra 60,000 teachers.

There will be an admission of the first group of Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in secondary schools in 2023. They will join Junior Secondary School (JSS) at Grade 7 under the new system.

At the same time, the current pupils in class 6 will be joining Form 1 under the 8-4-4 system which is currently being phased out

Another double intake will be expected in 2024 and 2025 when the current class 5 pupils will join high school. But more staffing crisis is likely to develop further by the number of teachers awaiting to retire by 2023.

16,645 teachers aged 58 years and above were still in service by the end of the last year with 14,333 of them being primary teachers. These teachers will have retired by then.

Another factor is that hundreds of teachers quit service through resignations, disciplinary action and death. TSC database shows that around 350,000 registered teachers are unemployed.

TSC boss Nancy Macharia recommends that something should be done quickly to tame this issue.

“If this rising number is not tamed through employment, public confidence in the nobility of the teaching profession will be eroded,” Macharia said.