The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will award teachers who will shine in this years national examinations, its CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia said yesterday.
“We will record and award those who were involved in the process,” said Macharia.
Macharia thanked teachers who took part in the national examinations by ensuring a credible process.
She said the teachers conducted themselves with professionalism to ensure credible examinations.
However she warned that the Commission will deal firmly with those teachers found in aiding in examination irregularities.
So far at least seven teachers have been arrested and some charged over various exam malpractices.
Knec engaged a total of 174,910 professionals from Ministry of interior, TSC, among other agencies to oversee the exams.
Macharia noted that the Commission has a shortage of 114,581 teachers due to the 100% transition policy and registration of new schools.
She said they have trained a total of 229,292 teachers in the last three years to handle the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) classes including grade 6.
She said a total of 60,000 teachers will be trained in April this year in preparation for junior secondary classes.
Macharia said the 60,000 teachers to be trained will include private school teachers and those teaching in special schools.
At the same time Macharia thanked the government for providing funds for employing 5,000 teachers this year.
She said the Commission has been recruiting 5,000 teachers annually to match the increased enrolment in public schools.
Macharia also announced mass transfer of teachers starting April as it plans to balance staffing across schools.
Macharia said the process will be done with a human face and will end by May 9.
Dr Macharia said TSC seeks to have a proportionate number of teachers in public schools after it emerged that some schools were understaffed while others had more than required teachers.
This means that schools with more teachers will have some of their tutors transferred to understaffed schools.
According to the commission, the exercise aims to improve on the teacher to learner ratio. The mass transfer is set to conclude before schools open.
Dr Macharia said that despite the shortage, the commission was determined to ensure prudent and fair distribution of the existing teachers in both primary and secondary schools.
“From time to time, we have had to review staffing placements to ensure no part of our country is disadvantaged in terms of sharing the limited teaching resources,” she added.
Dr Macharia assured teachers that the exercise will be conducted humanely while ensuring adequate consultations with relevant officers.
“The commission will shortly be asking our field officers to conduct a routine exercise of assessing their sub-counties to ensure that all schools have balanced teacher to learner ratios ahead of the start of the new academic calendar,” she explained.