The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has kicked process that will see 1,995 intern teachers posted to schools early January 2022.
Despite waiting for long the successful intern teachers will soon find themselves in new schools when term three begins.
The Commission advertised 1,995 teacher internship posts in September 2021 where 1,038 posts went to primary schools and 957 posts to secondary schools.
TSC said the recruitment of the intern teachers was in support of the Governments initiative to develop a pool of young talents for the Kenyan Labour Market.
TSC may also employ more teachers after the Education ministry recommended an increase of Sh15 billion to its annual budget.
According to the Draft 2022 Budget Policy Statement (a roadmap for 2022-23 budget) the document proposes an increase from the current Sh281.7 billion to Sh296.6 billion, an increase of Sh14.9 billion.
The increased funding under the Teacher Resource Management implies that the commission is set to recruit more teachers and cater for an increment of teachers’ salaries.
“TSC is determined to see that teachers are properly staffed. It is working with Ministry of Education to ensure enough teachers are provided by recruiting 5,000 teachers every year and also by engaging intern teachers,” reads a section of the policy.
TSC Internship programme is a short term programme lasting one year that supports efforts by teacher training institutions to equip and sustain the competencies of persons entering teaching service.
Interns attached to primary schools get a monthly stipend of Kshs. 15,000/= while those in secondary schools get Kshs. 20,000/=.
The recruitment of intern teachers is meant to address severe teacher shortage in schools.
TSC also extended internship for 4,005 teachers whose one year term was to end in December 2021.
The Commission had outlined its plan of employing at least 6,000 intern teachers by December 2021.
According to TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia the additional employees would ease teachers’ workload as enrollment rises, particularly due to the government’s 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school policy.
“This is a commendable government effort to ensure quality learning and teaching in our public schools,” said Macharia.
Macharia said the recruitment of 6,000 teachers on internship will cost the Commission kshs 1.2 billion.
She said TSC is more concerned with the workload brought by the 100 per cent transition policy and commended the government for allocating more funds for recruiting more teachers.
“We appreciate the government for allocating TSC funds annually for the recruitment of additional teachers since the 100 per cent transition programme was launched,” said Nancy Macharia.
However of the 6,000 internship vacancies only 2,000 will go to primary schools while the rest 4,000 will be reserved for secondary schools.
Last year TSC recruited 12,000 intern teachers under the Covid-19 economic stimulus package at a cost of Sh2.4 billion.
During the recruitment TSC highlighted the following requirements for one to be eligible for internship.
ELIGIBILITY FOR INTERNSHIP
To qualify, an applicant must at the time of application meet the following basic requirements:
a) Be Kenyan citizen;
b) Must be a registered teacher with Teachers Service Commission;
c) Be a holder of a P1 Certificate for Primary Schools and a minimum of a Diploma in Education Certificate for Secondary Schools;
d) Hold original academic and professional certificates;
e) Should not have been in previous employment with the Commission, as a teacher on permanent terms;
f) Must not have served as teacher intern under TSC (teacher) Internship Programme;
g) Be ready to be posted to any public educational institution in Kenya;
h) Must have a Personal Accident Insurance to cover for personal risks during the internship period.
In addition to the above, successful applicants shall be required to produce;
a) A copy of the National Identity Card (ID) or Passport Certificate;
b) A copy of Teacher Registration Certificate/ print-out from TSC portal evidencing registration as a teacher;
c) A copy of NCPWD card (where applicable);
d) A valid Certificate of Good Conduct;
e) Two (2) coloured passport size photographs;
f) A copy of NHIF card;
g) A copy of KRA PIN.
According to the commission’s data as at 2018, 28,843 teachers had been recruited, with 8,390 teachers in primary schools and 20,453 teachers in secondary schools.
The commission projected a shortage of 97,826 teachers (36,155 in primary and 61,671 in secondary) this year, 97,214 teachers (35,543 in primary and 61,671 in secondary) and 96,612 teachers (34,941 primary teachers and 61,671 secondary teachers) in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
According to the Economic Survey report, the Gross Enrolment Rate in primary schools improved from 104.4 per cent in 2018 to 100.2 per cent in 2019 and then reduced to 99.6 per cent in 2020.
Enrolment of special needs pupils increased from 121,392 in 2018-19 to 136,081 in 2019-20 and dropped to 132,466 in 2020-21.
Some 8,592,810 pupils received capitation under the free primary education programme in 2020-21.
The number of students enrolled in public secondary schools increased from 2,954,330 in 2018-19 to 3,289,885 in 2020-21.
The enrolment rate for secondary education increased from 70.3 per cent in 2018 to 71.2 per cent in 2019.
On governance and standards, the commission has been allocated Sh1.1 billion from Sh1 billion in the current financial year.
The increase was in form of current expenses that include logistics such as Teacher Performance and Appraisal Development and Competency-Based Curriculum training for teachers among others.
According to the BPS, the education sector has been allocated Sh525.9 billion, Sh539.9 billion and Sh558.4 billion in the financial years 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 respectively.