The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has advised the Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) against churning out primary school teachers citing unavailability of teaching opportunities.

This was revealed by TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia when she appeared before the National Assembly Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee yesterday.

The issue of unemployed trained teachers took centre stage when Karemba Muchangi led committee questioned why thousands of graduates remain jobless despite a high teacher shortage in several counties.

Macharia stated that the Commission had advised colleges to stop intakes as there is surplus of primary school teachers in payroll and the job market.

“After curriculum changes removed Standards 6, 7, and 8, we ended up with surplus teachers in some primary schools. We’ve advised against training more primary teachers, yet colleges continue.” explained Macharia.

It is unlikely for colleges to heed this advise as this will mean their extinction as primary school trainee teachers form backbone of their enrollment.

Macharia had earlier on revealed that the Commission has an excess of 18,072 primary school teachers.

The surplus teachers were brought by the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) that saw two classes (Class 7 and 8) being scrapped.

However TSC embarked on deploying excess primary school teachers to junior secondary and special schools.

This she said will address shortages in junior secondary as well as special schools and units.

Macharia said Special Needs Schools in the country are facing a shortage of 5,362 teachers.

In junior secondary she said the Commission needs 72,422 teachers to address the staffing gap.

She said both junior and senior secondary which starts in January 2026 require additional 98,261 teachers to adequately implement CBC.

There are hundreds of thousands of primary school teachers with Primary Teacher Education (PTE) certificates and others with Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) who are yet to be absorbed by TSC.

Some PTE teachers went back to college and upgraded their certificates to UDPTE to align with CBC and increase their employment chances.

Some frustrated P1 teachers have vowed to demonstrate to TSC Upper Hill offices to demand for their employment.

Its a sad story as some PTE teachers graduated in 2012 but still yet to get TSC employment.

TSC has shifted employment of teachers to junior and senior schools. TSC is now exclusively employing secondary school teachers with Diploma and Degree.

No mass recruitment has happened for primary school teachers in last two years only recruitment on replacement terms.

The recent TSC replacement of teachers through the backdoor has added to the frustrations teachers are going through.

Macharia has however refuted the claims and distanced the Commission from the employment letters issued by politicians.

The commission CEO was yesterday confronted by accusations of surrendering her role of teacher’s appointments to politicians through the irregular issuance of employment letters to them for issuance.

 Macharia stated that the allegations were not true and she had just read them in the “papers”.

 “…I read this thing in the papers. If you can check our website, you will see how we carry out our recruitment. However, I am concerned because these things give TSC a very bad name,” she stated.

The matter had been brought up by Matungu MP Oscar Nabulindo who sought to know why cabinet secretaries have been distributing employment letters at political gatherings.

Chairperson Karemba called for a rectification of the same.

 “I believe that we are setting a very bad example if the recruitment of teachers must be done by the political class. It is incumbent on us to bring this issue to an end,” he said.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has advised the Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) against churning out primary school teachers citing unavailability of teaching opportunities.

This was revealed by TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia when she appeared before the National Assembly Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee yesterday.

The issue of unemployed trained teachers took centre stage when Karemba Muchangi led committee questioned why thousands of graduates remain jobless despite a high teacher shortage in several counties.

Macharia stated that the Commission had advised colleges to stop intakes as there is surplus of primary school teachers in payroll and the job market.

“After curriculum changes removed Standards 6, 7, and 8, we ended up with surplus teachers in some primary schools. We’ve advised against training more primary teachers, yet colleges continue.” explained Macharia.

It is unlikely for colleges to heed this advise as this will mean their extinction as primary school trainee teachers form backbone of their enrollment.

Macharia had earlier on revealed that the Commission has an excess of 18,072 primary school teachers.

The surplus teachers were brought by the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) that saw two classes (Class 7 and 8) being scrapped.

However TSC embarked on deploying excess primary school teachers to junior secondary and special schools.

This she said will address shortages in junior secondary as well as special schools and units.

Macharia said Special Needs Schools in the country are facing a shortage of 5,362 teachers.

In junior secondary she said the Commission needs 72,422 teachers to address the staffing gap.

She said both junior and senior secondary which starts in January 2026 require additional 98,261 teachers to adequately implement CBC.

There are hundreds of thousands of primary school teachers with Primary Teacher Education (PTE) certificates and others with Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) who are yet to be absorbed by TSC.

Some PTE teachers went back to college and upgraded their certificates to UDPTE to align with CBC and increase their employment chances.

Some frustrated P1 teachers have vowed to demonstrate to TSC Upper Hill offices to demand for their employment.

Its a sad story as some PTE teachers graduated in 2012 but still yet to get TSC employment.

TSC has shifted employment of teachers to junior and senior schools. TSC is now exclusively employing secondary school teachers with Diploma and Degree.

No mass recruitment has happened for primary school teachers in last two years only recruitment on replacement terms.

The recent TSC replacement of teachers through the backdoor has added to the frustrations teachers are going through.

Macharia has however refuted the claims and distanced the Commission from the employment letters issued by politicians.

The commission CEO was yesterday confronted by accusations of surrendering her role of teacher’s appointments to politicians through the irregular issuance of employment letters to them for issuance.

 Macharia stated that the allegations were not true and she had just read them in the “papers”.

 “…I read this thing in the papers. If you can check our website, you will see how we carry out our recruitment. However, I am concerned because these things give TSC a very bad name,” she stated.

The matter had been brought up by Matungu MP Oscar Nabulindo who sought to know why cabinet secretaries have been distributing employment letters at political gatherings.

Chairperson Karemba called for a rectification of the same.

 “I believe that we are setting a very bad example if the recruitment of teachers must be done by the political class. It is incumbent on us to bring this issue to an end,” he said.