TSC set to fill 1,592 teaching vacancies

NAIROBI: Some 1,592 teachers will be hired to replace those who have left service in primary and post-primary institutions.

In an advertisement, the Teachers Service Commission said 1,048 vacancies will be taken up by primary school teachers, and 544 by post-primary teachers.

Commission Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni said only teachers who are registered with the commission as per Section 23 of the TSC Act of 2012 will be considered.

For those eyeing primary schools, the secretary said allocations will be filled through the last recruitment exercise's merit list.

"Those interested should submit their applications to TSC county directors and school boards of management for primary and post-primary schools respectively, before May 14, 2015," Lengoiboni said.

He encouraged people with disability to apply, saying the commission was keen to adhere to the constitutional requirement that five per cent of employment vacancies be reserved for persons with disability.

He emphasised the commission will only deal with applications made through TSC county directors and school boards.

"We want to warn  the public against fraudsters who will want to extort money from them in the pretext of assisting them get jobs," he said, adding that the minimum requirement for primary teachers is a P1 certificate while those interested in post-primary institutions must have at least a diploma in Education.

Last year, the commission hired 968 teachers to replace those who had left the service. Out of these, 572 slots went to primary schools while 396 were went to post-primary schools. The commission hired an additional 398 teachers in April last year.

Lengoiboini said the commission would hire more teachers if Treasury allocates it enough funds.

Last year in May, the commission revealed that plans were underway to hire 5,000 teachers. Lengoiboni said they would have hired 20,000 teachers had Treasury allocated them the Sh9 billion they had requested.

"We had been given Sh2.25 billion for hiring teachers in 2014/2015 financial year. This meant that there was a deficit of over Sh6 billion," said Lengoiboni in an earlier interview.

He said the commission was aware of the teachers' shortage that had been worsened by high enrolment in schools due to free primary and secondary education.