Teachers  Service Commission (TSC) plans to hire at least 9 ,000 new teachers over the next five years.

The commission will spend a chuck of the Sh114 billion it has set aside for projects in its strategic plan to employ additional teachers.

TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said part of the Sh82 billion would be used to recruit 100,000 interns between next year and 2023.

Dr Macharia said by June 30 last year, the commission estimated a teacher shortage of 96,345 out of which 38,054 were for primary level.

She attributed the shortage to rapid growth in school enrollment and various initiatives in the education sector that had necessitated establishment of new schools and expansion of existing ones.

&ldquo These initiatives include Government’s policy of 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary. By 2023, the teacher shortage is projected to be 61,671 for secondary school and 34,941 for primary,” Machairia said during the launch of the 2019/2023 strategic plan.

She said the plan provided an effective implementation and coordination in terms of human and financial resource allocation. “The overall budget required for the successful delivery of planned targets is estimated at Sh114.5 billion. This includes the cost of recruiting 9 ,000 additional teachers and 20,000 interns per year in the next five years. The estimated cost for this critical investment is Sh82.4 billion,” Macharia said.

She said her commission required Sh16.4 billion each year to recruit additional teachers for the next four years and Sh8.1 billion in the fifth year, plus an additional Sh2.8 billion over and above the existing allocations.

Macharia said the roll-out of the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC), free primary, free day secondary education and the 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school would continue to push the demand for teachers up.