The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will give priority to unemployed teachers with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in the upcoming recruitment of 24,000 junior school intern teachers.
In an advert it released on Tuesday this week TSC said the application exercise will start on Monday 26th August.
“The application portal shall be opened on Tuesday, 26th August, 2025 and closed on Monday, 9th September, 2025 midnight,” reads part of the advert.
According to the scoresheet, teachers with STEM subjects will have an upper hand during the recruitment interviews.
The Commission has previously warned that there is dire shortage of science teachers in the country.
During her appearance before the National Assembly education committee, former TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia had 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 junior secondary school (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.
This move deals a blow to many unemployed teachers with Language and Art subject combinations who are looking forward to be considered for internship.
In November 2024, TSC during recruitment of 20,000 JSS intern teachers, the Commission also facoured science teachers and those with technical subjects like Drawing and Design.
Teachers with science subjects combinations as well as those with technical subjects had a higher success rate in the recruitment exercise compared to those with art combinations.
In fact in some sub counties only science teachers were picked. Those successful were posted to schools in January 2025.
During the verification exercise in the sub counties the applicants will be required to produce the following document’s:
1. A copy of Teacher Certificate/print-out from TSC online portal as evidence of registration as a teacher:
2. A copy of National Council for persons With Disability (NCPWD) card (where applicable);
3. A copy of the National Identity Card (ID) or passport;
4. Two (2) colour passport size photographs;
5. A copy of Kenya Revenue Authority personal Identification Number (KRA PIN).
After verifying documents for the applicants, TSC will then require the successful ones to sign a one year internship agreement before posting them to various schools to support the Competency Based Education (CBE).
The teachers will then be retooled courtesy of TSC, CEMASTEA and KNEC.
The teachers will be trained on the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and Competency Based Assessments (CBA).
The Teacher Internship Programme is a one (1) year programme meant to equip and sustain competencies of persons entering the teaching service.
The programme targets unemployed registered teachers to be assigned to learning institutions where their teaching experience will be enhanced through mentorship, coaching and exposure to practical teaching experience.
The internship period will be for twelve months though previously some intern teachers served for two years.
Teacher internship is not a remunerative engagement. However, interns attached to Junior Secondary schools will be eligible for a monthly stipend of Kshs. 20 ,000/=.
The stipend will be paid subject to statutory deductions like SHIF, Housing levy, and NSSF where applicable.
On successful completion of the Internship Programme, teacher interns will be awarded a certificate.
TSC awards 50 marks to teachers who served on internship terms during pnp recruitment thus making conversion to pnp for those who served on internship automatic.
Below is an advert that was released by TSC to guide recruitment of JSS intern teachers.
TEACHERS SERVICE COMMISSION
VACANCIES FOR TEACHER INTERNS IN JUNIOR SCHOOLS AUGUST, 2025
The Teachers Service Commission invites applications from qualified candidates to fill 24,000 teacher internship posts in Junior Schools to support the implementation of Competency Based Curriculum.
Interested and qualified candidates should submit their applications online through the Commission’s website, www.tsc.go.ke under “Careers’ or teachersonline.tsc.go.ke not later than Midnight of 9th September, 2025.
JUNIOR SCHOOL TEACHER INTERNS
To quality for recruitment, a candidate should meet the following minimum requirements:
i) Be a Kenyan citizen;
ii) Must be a holder of at least a diploma in education with a minimum mean Grade of C+ (plus) and C+ (plus) in two teaching subjects in KCSE or its equivalent.
iii) Must be a registered teacher with Teachers Service Commission.
NB: For equivalent qualifications, applicants are advised to visit the Teachers Service Commission’s website: www.tsc.go.ke
GENERAL INFORMATION
i) The Teachers Service Commission’s Guidelines for Recruitment of Teacher Interns 2025/2026 Financial Year shall apply.
ii) Manual applications will not be considered
iii) Be unemployed and has no record of exiting teaching service with the Commission due to disciplinary grounds;
iv) Candidates will be requited to present original academic and professional certificates.
v) Must have personal Accident Insurance cover for personal risks during the internship period
vi) Selection of Candidates will strictly be on merit and based on the number of vacancies per County
vii) Successful candidates must not fill more than one offer of internship
viii) Successful candidates will be posted to serve to any junior school in the sub-county where they were interviewed or in any part of the County where the vacancy exist
ix) Successful candidates shall be required to teach various learning areas under Junior School Curriculum
Visit the Commission’s Website www.tsc.go.ke for mote information.
x) During verification applicants shall be required to produce the •
1. A copy of Teacher Certificate/print-out from TSC online portal as evidence of registration as a teacher:
2. A copy of National Council for persons With Disability (NCPWD) card (where applicable);
3. A copy of the National Identity Card (ID) or passport;
4. Two (2) colour passport size photographs;
5. A copy of Kenya Revenue Authority personal Identification Number (KRA PIN).
xi) The application portal shall be opened on Tuesday, 26th August, 2025 and closed on Monday, 9th September, 2025 midnight.
NOTE
The Teacher Internship Programme is a one (1) year programme meant to equip and sustain competencies of persons entering the teaching service.
The programme targets unemployed registered teachers to be assigned to learning institutions where their teaching experience will be enhanced through mentorship, coaching and exposure to practical teaching experience
DURATION OF INTERNSHIP
The Internship period will be for twerve (12) months
MONTHLY STIPEND FOR TEACHER INTERNS
This is not a remunerative engagement. However, interns attached to Junior schools will be eligible for monthly stipend of Kshs 20,000.
The stipend will be paid subject to statutory deductions. where applicable.
The Teachers Service Commission is an equal opportunity employer as per the constitutional provisions and law and persons with disabilities (PWDs) are encouraged to apply.
CAUTION
The recruitment exercise is free of charge. The Teachers Service Commission forewarns applicants against fraudsters who might extort money from unsuspecting persons purporting to assist in recruitment.
REPORTING OF FRAUD
Any fraudulent activity should be reported to the nearest TSC office or Teachers Service Commission headquarters through the following telephone lines: Director Staffing (0202892193) and Deputy Staffing (0202892131) or write to the Commission through the email address dirstaffing@tsc.go.ke.
Further, any such fraudulent activity should be reported to the nearest police station.
Details on available vacancies per county and sub-county is in the Teachers Service Commission website: www.tsc.go.ke
TEACHERS SERVICE COMMISSION
For the last recruitment process science teachers were favoured in fact 20,000 of them got internship as the scoresheet clearly gave them marks.
My suggestion is this,for fairness in this next 24,000 internship recruitment let’s also consider those with mathematics and any other technicals like business studies, drawings and designs,and even computer since we know that computer studies is one of the core learning areas in senior school so we need to prepare them adequately before they transit to the senior school.Business studies has other key areas such as entrepreneurship skills and financial literacy which a crucial part to both learned and those learned and runs serious businesses in the country
Let science teachers be prioritized. Most Schools are struggling with a single science teacher and a crowd of arts teachers. This paints a grim picture that taints our motive as a country towards sciences. May the commission consider to staff Schools with more science teachers. Although I’m not one of them, the situation is dire!!