Bridge Schools in recruitment drive of TSC certified teachers

Bridge International Academies pupils at the school’s Kangemi branch. (Photo: Beverlyne Musili/Standard)

Nairobi: The Bridge International Academies have kicked off a teachers recruitment drive to improve quality of education.

A statement from the schools management says so far 1, 200 teachers certified by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) have been recruited.

"This is 40 per cent of the 2,776 who submitted applications. Of those, 564 did not meet minimum requirements," reads the statement.

The group of schools has been under pressure to hire TSC registered teachers across its 405 institutions to beat the Alternative Provision of Basic Education and Training (APBET) thresholds.

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said that a third of the teaching staff in APBET schools must have had a formal teaching training.

"The rest must be undertaking recognised in-service training and management of the institution shall progressively ensure that all their teachers are registered with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) by the third year of registration of the institution," reads the new guideline.

Currently, Bridge School has 4,921 teachers in all the learning centers, some of whom are not TSC certified. This means that the group of low cost schools is operating below the set threshold.

Matiang’i said these are part of the new standards for low cost schools established in the slums to check quality of education.

The CS said APBET schools must now hire trained teachers, enhance book-pupil ratio and enlist their pupils to sit national examinations offered by the government.

The guidelines further demand that each primary school class shall not have more than 55 pupils.

"The pupil teacher ratio in a primary or secondary school shall not exceed 55:1 and 45:1 respectively, or as approved by the ministry," reads the document.

In a statement sent to the newsrooms Wednesday, the Schools management said: "Bridge International Academies has set out a strict recruitment drive to plug into its mission of providing quality education for all children irrespective of their background."

"The process outlines rigorous quality check stages that will ensure that only the very best candidates are hired to serve in Bridge academies across 44 counties in Kenya," reads the statement signed by Jackline Walumbe.

Ms Walumbe said the recruitment drive is under People Operations Department and is being steered by the academy talent acquisition team with support from customer experience and academy operations on execution fronts.

The statement explains the interview process is based on screen-shot messages sent by teachers to the school before they are invited for interviews.

"Candidates are phone screened (phone interviewed) then invited for interviews at the academies which involves written and one-on-one interviews," reads the statement.

The distribution list seen by The Standard shows that most applicants– about 49 per cent– are P1 trained teachers with TSC numbers.

Another 13 per cent of applicants are trained nursery school teachers while some 22 per cent of them have bachelor's degree in Education (secondary option).

"The recruitment drive has largely been successful so far and we have many candidates who are very excited about the opportunity and are yearning to be part of great educators at Bridge International Academies," said Ms Walumbe.