Sossion, who doubles up as KNUT Secretary General said quality education will not be the case without the hiring of more teachers. The TSC needs at least Sh10 billion to hire 22,000 teachers every year, he said.
In his argument, Emuhaya MP Omboko Milemba said that with the new curriculum and the 100 percent transition, the shortage will compromise the quality of education.
Milemba said the budget committee should see if it is possible for the commission to be given the Sh10 billion to facilitate the employment of more teachers.
Funyula MP Wilberforce Ojiambo was of the view that it would be a disservice for the commission not to get the money, especially for learners going to secondary school.
“With the chronic teacher shortage we have become unfair to the education sector. If we really want to uplift our children across the country we must invest in teachers by giving them something from the supplementary budget,” Ojiambo said.
Wajir South MP Mohamed Sheikh was of the opinion that the commission has been unfair to learners in North Eastern so it deserves what it has been allocated.
Sheikh said the employer gets “enormous allocations yet does very little”.
Eldama Ravine MP Moses Lesonet said TSC has been unfair to its employees for many years.
Lesonet said it is unfortunate that some teachers who are 40 years of age or older have never been employed.
“If the commission gets the funds, older teachers or those who graduated before 2015 should be given priority,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya who said: “We are talking about the Big four and the free day secondary education yet parents are still paying for it. We have a crisis … we don’t have teachers yet we know education is the only enabler of president Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda.”
Kimunya added that if the TCS cannot get Sh10 billion to hire teachers, the rest of its budget is a waste.
“Whether this was deliberately excluded or not is a matter that needs to be addressed,” he said.
Courtesy of The Star
