According to Jamleck Muturi, chair of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the commission will begin hiring 30,000 teachers within the next two weeks.
If TSC is to believe Muturi, the 30,000 teaching positions announced by President William Ruto prior to the opening of Junior Secondary schools would be advertised between December 19 and December 23, 2022. The newly hired are to make sure they report to schools next month in accordance with the stated schedule.
He said that there are 160,000 teachers lacking in the classrooms. He urged head teachers to take the lead in organizing the widespread planting of trees in their schools, saying, “TSC would consider all the schools including those in rural places.”
The TSC director was speaking to primary school head teachers as they delivered their wish list to the government at the Sheikh Zayed Children Welfare Centre in Mombasa during the 18th annual Kepsha conference. One of their recommendations was to raise the yearly capitation per child from Sh1,400 to Sh7,500.
The head teachers, who oversee more than 23,000 schools, claimed that due to inflation and the high cost of living, they need extra money. A primary school with 400 students costs about Sh3 million a year to operate, according to Johnson Nzioka, chair of the Kenya Primary Schools Head Teachers Association (Kepsha).
“The last review on capitation was done in 2010 when it was capped at Sh1,400 per child. This figure falls far below the requirements to effectively run a primary school,” Nzioka said. “In our proposal, we have taken into account inflation rates, cost of living and depreciation.”
The progression of the tutors at that level has been stagnant for a while, they argued, and they encouraged the government to elevate head teachers in Grade D1.
“We also request that the progression of head teachers in Grade D1 be considered, given that many have stagnated in that grade,” he said.