The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has started to retool the recently recruited junior secondary school (JSS) teachers.
The teachers who were hired on a one year internship term have started their training on Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and Competency Based Assessment (CBA) in their sub counties.
The 20,000 JSS intern teachers who were recruited in December at a cost of sh 4.8 billion reported to schools on 6th January 2025.
TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia said that they require a total of 72,422 teachers to address a teacher shortage in JSS.
She said the Commission requires a total of 149,350 teachers to handle Grade 7, 8 and 9.
Macharia said currently TSC has employed 76,928 teachers in junior secondary representing 51.5% of the requirement.
The JSS intern teachers will be trained to help in CBC implementation after Grade 8 learners transitioned to Grade 9 in January.
The training which was first organised by the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) targets STEM teachers.
TSC has so far retooled a total of 229,292 teachers on Competency Based Curriculum and Competency Based Assessment since April 2019.
She said a total of 60,642 JSS teachers have been retooled from May 2023 to November 2024.
In the recruitment of the 20,000 JSS intern teachers TSC gave priority to those with science subject combinations.
TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia had warned that there is a shortage of science teachers in the country.
During her appearance before the National Assembly education committee, Macharia stated that despite having over 400,000 unemployed teachers nationwide, the commission is struggling to recruit teachers for science subjects.
She noted that many schools, especially JSS, are not adequately staffed with science teachers and that applications for these positions are rarely received.
“What stands out is the problem of science teachers. Based on our data, we will be able to determine the percentage of arts versus science teachers. However, it is clear that the majority are in the arts,” Macharia explained.
“I have never shied away from acknowledging the crisis of teacher shortages. We will recruit and redistribute teachers across all counties, but when we advertise for positions, we hardly receive applications for subjects like Physics.”
“We have communicated with the education ministry and have reached out to our schools multiple times regarding the lack of science teachers. Action needs to be taken,” she stated.
In a circular dated 16th January with copies addressed to TSC County Directors, the teachers were ordered to be registered online in preparation for their training.
Cemastea which is now a department at the Ministry of Education called for registration of teachers with STEM subjects only.
Below is the circular that guided the registration JSS teachers before their training in January.
RefNo: CEM/STEM/VOL.IV/002
Date: 16th January 2025
To all the CTCDC Charpersons
RE: DATA ON JUNIOR SCHOOL STEM TEACHERS
In readiness to roll out its 2025 training programmes, the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) is updating its database of Junior School teachers assigned to teach STEM related subjects in Grades 7, 8 and 9 namely; Mathematics, Integrated Science, Pre-Technical Studies and Agriculture and Nutrition.
The purpose of this letter is to request you to facilitate the process of gathering the required data by asking the concerned teachers in your county to provide the required information through the Google Form that can be accessed using the following link:
https://forms.gle/nycZIQhNgOZcNvrR7
The CTCDC is asked to share the above link with the concerned teachers and ask them to provide the data latest by close of business Friday 24th January 2025.
Please ensure that only teachers assigned to teach the said learning areas/subjects fill the form.
Thank you for your continued support.
Jacinta Akatsa, HSC
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER