The TSC has sounded the alarm over a crippling teacher shortage that threatens to derail the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in junior and senior secondary schools. Speaking before the National Assembly Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee on April 8, 2025, TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia said the Commission needs 25,839 senior school teachers before the Grade 10 rollout next year.
CBC Implementation Under Threat
Dr. Macharia said the total teacher deficit across junior and senior secondary schools is 98,261 teachers. To fully operationalize CBC in Grades 7, 8 and 9, the Commission estimates a need for 149,350 teachers.
Currently, 76,928 teachers are stationed in junior secondary schools which is 51.5% of the required workforce. Of these:
- 39,550 were initially hired on internship terms and confirmed to permanent and pensionable status in January 2025.
- 8,378 P1 teachers were redeployed to junior secondary in 2023 and 2024.
- 9,000 were newly recruited on permanent and pensionable terms.
- 20,000 intern teachers were hired in January 2025 under a Sh4.8 billion allocation.
The teacher crisis is looming and will destabilize the Grade 10 transition unless urgent recruitment and deployment is done.
Budgetary Allocation and Recruitment Plan
To mitigate the situation, government has allocated resources for the recruitment of 36,000 additional teachers in 2025. This includes:
- 18,000 teachers on permanent and pensionable terms
- 18,000 teachers on internship contracts
These teachers will be deployed to junior and senior secondary schools where the shortage is most acute. But the number is far below the required 98,261 and we will have overstretched teachers and compromised learning outcomes.
Ongoing Teacher Training and Retooling
Since the CBC was introduced in phases in 2019, the Commission has prioritized retooling and upskilling of teachers. To date:* A total of 229,292 teachers have been trained on CBC and CBA.
- Between May 2023 and November 2024, 60,642 junior secondary school teachers were retooled.
- TSC plans to retool 7,000 secondary school principals to prepare them for Grade 10 administration and oversight.
While retooling is ongoing, the teacher-to-classroom ratio in JSS is 1:1, meaning each teacher is handling multiple learning areas and subjects — not sustainable nor educationally sound.
Pressure on TSC to Avert CBC Crisis
The staffing crisis has raised concerns among education stakeholders with Parliament questioning the speed of recruitment, reliance on internship contracts and slow confirmation of trained teachers to permanent status.
Dr. Macharia defended the Commission’s approach citing budget constraints, logistical challenges and the enormity of the CBC transition. But there is growing pressure on Ministry of Education and Treasury to release more funds to fill the teacher gap before Grade 10 starts in January 2026.
