The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has started staff balancing exercise, as it emerged some schools are severely understaffed when others have surplus teachers.
In a memo that was sent to TSC County and Sub County Directors, Heads of Institutions (HOIs) were required to provide key details for implementing Curriculum Based Establishment (CBE) in schools.
The excess teachers will be transferred in April within or outside their Sub County, as TSC targets teachers who have overstayed in one station.
According to TSC the CBE for primary schools is found by taking total enrolment divided by fifty then plus one.
For junior schools it is found by taking total enrolment divide by forty five. This is because junior school teachers are shared across the three grades i.e Grade 7, 8 and 9.
For example if a school has five teachers, they can be shared as Grade 7, two teachers Grade 8, two teachers and Grade 9, one teacher.
Details school heads were required to submit to help with the matrix include; Name of the school, Region, County, Sub County, IPPD Code, Category eg. Primary regular, Enrolment, Number of Male and Female teachers, Total number of classes, Number of surplus teachers, Number of shortages, Remarks eg. Understaffed, Overstaffed, Well staffed.
TSC acting CEO Eveleen Mitei when she appeared before the National Assembly Committee on Education, maintained that primary schools across the country are currently overstaffed, a situation it attributes to the recent restructuring of the basic education system.
According to the commission, the migration of Grade 7 and 8—formerly Class 7 and 8—to the junior secondary level left many primary institutions with more teachers than needed.
However many primary schools are still struggling with teacher shortages despite others having excess staff.
Mitei noted that because of this shift, a surplus emerged in lower primary staffing, reducing the urgency to recruit additional primary school teachers.
As a result, the commission announced it will no longer conduct large-scale recruitment for primary teachers, stating that it will only replace those who exit service through natural attrition.
At the same time, the commission highlighted a severe shortage of teachers in both junior and senior school levels, saying it will continue prioritizing recruitment in these two segments to address rising learner populations and curriculum demands.
The announcement came despite recent assurances from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) leadership.
KNUT Secretary-General Collins Oyuu had assured unemployed P1 teachers that the union had reached an understanding with President William Ruto that TSC will prioritize them in the next mass recruitment of teachers.
However, the latest communication from TSC signals that while opportunities will continue to emerge, they will be significantly narrower for primary teachers compared to those targeting junior and senior school vacancies.
Education stakeholders now await further clarification on how the commission plans to balance the staffing disparities across the system while addressing the expectations of thousands of trained but unemployed primary school teachers.
