The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced that there are 2,014 teaching jobs available due to teachers leaving their positions naturally. This is part of an effort to address the shortage of teachers in schools.
The new teachers will be hired on permanent contracts, with 637 positions for senior secondary schools and 32 for junior schools. Most of the new hires, 1,309, will be assigned to primary schools. The application period for these jobs will close on May 19, 2025.
The TSC explained that they are filling these vacancies because many teachers have left their jobs. The breakdown includes 1,309 positions for primary schools, 32 for junior schools, and 673 for secondary schools. The new teachers will have permanent jobs.
Public primary schools that also serve junior classes are facing the biggest staffing issues, especially after over one million students moved to Grade 9 under the new competency-based curriculum (CBC).
Last year, the government made 39,550 junior school teachers permanent and moved an additional 8,378 primary school teachers to junior schools. However, there is still a significant shortage of teachers, with a need for 72,422 more in the 20,000 junior schools.
This shortage has led to teachers being overworked, crowded classrooms, and a lack of specialized teachers needed for the CBC, which focuses on practical learning and personalized teaching. The CBC was introduced in 2018, changing how education is structured, with primary school now ending at Grade 6 before students move to junior secondary from Grade 7 to Grade 9.
To apply for these teaching positions, candidates must be Kenyan citizens, have a P1 certificate for primary school jobs, or a diploma in education for junior and secondary school positions, and they must be registered with the TSC.
This job announcement follows calls from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) for the TSC to prioritize higher academic qualifications when hiring teachers instead of just relying on their secondary school results.