President William Ruto says his government will make use of primary school teachers with Degree and Diploma certificates to teach Junior Secondary School (JSS) when schools reopen.
Speaking during his first joint media interview on Wednesday night, Ruto also assured parents whose children sat for the Grade Six examinations of a smooth transition when they join Junior Secondary later this month.
In what seemed as a deliberate move to calm anxious parents, President Ruto said that the looming transition to Junior Secondary Schools will be seamless.
He said there will be enough classrooms in all public primary schools in readiness for the transition.
‘‘We have extra classrooms in all schools that will be used by the Junior Secondary pioneer cohorts and there is no need for parents transferring their children. We have the curriculum in place and are now addressing the teachers’ shortage.
“The only thing that is going to be pending and which we will engage with our Members of Parliament is to build a laboratory for them within the next one year.” He added.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has already ordered for details of primary school teachers with qualifications to teach in junior secondary schools.
The teachers will help plug in the huge deficit the Commission is facing when schools reopen on 23rd January.
The Commission has asked primary school headteachers to fill and submit a template it has provided to help in getting the teachers who will teach Grade 7 learners in January.
Details which TSC want the school heads to provide urgently through an excel template include;
TSC number
Name and Gender of the teacher
School/Institution
Sub County
KCSE Mean Grade
Qualification i.e DIP, BED
Subject Combination
KCSE Subject Grade e.g MAT C+ & PHY B-
Year of Graduation
Year of Birth
Mobile Number
Junior secondary school has opened a door of opportunities for promotion of primary school classroom teachers who upgraded their PTE certificates to Diploma and Degree certificates.
However TSC is still adamant that only primary school teachers with qualifications to teach in secondary school will be allowed to teach in junior secondary.
This means only teachers with Diploma and Degree certificates in secondary option will be considered for deployment to junior secondary school.
It is estimated that around 17,000 primary school teachers have qualifications to teach in secondary school.
The Commission needs at least 60,000 teachers to handle Grade 7 learners later this month year.
So far TSC is recruiting 30,550 teachers for junior secondary school which starts in January 2023.
Of these 9,000 posts are for permanent and pensionable terms of service for secondary school teachers who will be posted to junior secondary schools.
Another 21,550 posts went to recruitment of teacher interns in junior secondary schools. The teachers will be posted before schools reopen on 23rd January.
When TSC chairperson Mr Jamleck Muturi and TSC head of legal affairs Mr Calvin Anyuor appeared before the Education and Research Committee of the National Assembly two weeks ago they said they have a plan to deploy primary school teachers to teach in junior high.
Mr Anyuor, who was representing TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia, said the process to deploy P1 teachers with Diploma and Degree certificates to teach Grade 7 class in January has already started.
“We are currently mapping those teachers and shortly we’ll get the numbers right,” said Anyuor.
The deployment of primary school teachers was necessitated after it was revealed that TSC has allocated only one teacher per class for junior secondary.
Primary schools will receive teachers, according to the number of classes they have for Grade 7.
Anyuor told MPs there are 30,550 Grade 7 classes in the country. TSC has allocated one teacher for every class beginning January.
“If the county has 1,000 classes we have allocated 1,000 teachers,” he said.
Anyuor said the number of teacher’s is based on budget allocation by treasury. TSC chair Jamleck Muturi said the commission will retool primary school teachers to teach Grade 7, 8 and 9.
Muturi said this seeks to ensure all schools have sufficient number of teachers.
“TSC will redistribute teachers who are in primary school who have qualified to teach in junior secondary,” he said.
He said the Commission will in January train teachers on Languages, Pure Sciences, Applied Sciences, Mathematics, Humanities and Technical subjects.
The training of Grade 7 teachers will involve these subjects and areas offered in junior secondary school section.
i. Languages – English, Kiswahili, Foreign and Indigenous Languages and Kenya Sign Language.
ii. Pure Sciences -Integrated Science Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Health Education.
iii. Applied Sciences – Agriculture, Home science and computer studies
iv. Mathematics.
iv. Humanities – Social Studies (Citizenship, Geography, History) Religious Studies, (CRE, IRE, Hindu, HRE and PPI) and live skills.
v. Technical subjects and Creative Arts – Pre vocational and pre career Business studies, music, sports and physical education Home science.
The deployed primary school teachers will be paid as same as those teaching in 8.4.4 secondary schools.
Those with Diploma certificates will start at job group C1 while those with Degree certificates will start at job group C2.
The teachers will be moved to next job group automatically after completing three years as outlined in the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) for teachers.