However, National Assembly Education Committee Chairperson Julius Melly urged the Commission to do more.
"Qualified and ageing teachers must be treated with dignity and should not be left behind in the hiring process. They deserve an equal opportunity to serve, especially after decades of waiting," Melly told lawmakers.
Budget constraints remain a key hurdle to large-scale recruitment, with Mitei noting that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has appealed to Parliament for increased funding to clear backlogs.
"Recruitment is premised on the availability of funds and existing vacancies. We've advised the National Government to support market-driven teacher training and enhance our budget," she explained.
Lawmakers also raised concerns over the Commission's opaque data, questioning why graduation years are missing from registration records. Mitei clarified that the system captures dates of birth, gender, identification details and contact information but does not collect graduation years.
"Our systems capture date of birth, gender, ID, and contact information, but not the year of graduation," she noted