As schools reopened earlier in the week, meetings by sub-county for primary school Heads of Institutions started countrywide to address pressing issues concerning the first term. The burning issue that dominates these meetings is the dire shortage of teachers in Junior Secondary Schools, especially for Grades 7, 8, and 9.
TSC is now seeking the services of primary school teachers to plug the staffing gap in JSS, despite an earlier stance barring primary school teachers from teaching in JSS without official deployment. An earlier circular on 27th December, which was later dismissed as fake, had cautioned primary teachers against teaching in JSS unless formally deployed by TSC. However, the current shortage finds TSC ordering primary headteachers, who act as JSS principals, to post lessons to qualified primary teachers as it awaits implementation of the phased deployment strategy.
Phased Deployment Strategy
In a bid to ease the staffing crisis, TSC announced the plans to deploy 6,000 qualified PTE teachers to JSS in 2025. According to TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia, the commission faces a shortfall of 72,422 teachers, requiring a total of 149,350 teachers to effectively handle Grades 7, 8, and 9. Currently, only 76,928 teachers have been deployed to JSS, accounting for 51.5% of the required workforce.
Dr. Macharia further revealed that from 2019 to date, the commission has deployed a total of 8,378 primary teachers to JSS. This deployment has also created a promotion opportunity for P1 teachers who have upgraded their qualifications. From 2019 to 2021, 1,000 P1 teachers were deployed annually, while from 2022 to 2024, 8,378 teachers were deployed to teach the first cohorts of CBC in JSS.
Criteria for Deployment
TSC has maintained that it will deploy only those primary school teachers who have met certain academic requirements that include a minimum of C+ mean grade in KCSE with a similar grade in at least two teaching subjects.
Besides deploying primary school teachers, TSC intends to post the excess secondary school teachers to JSS. Several thousands of the secondary school teachers are likely to be surplus in high schools when the CBC system finally phases out the Form One class from January 2025.
To facilitate this process, all secondary school principals were directed to forward names of teachers employed from 2016 onwards to sub-county directors. This posting to JSS shall be done with priority considering proximity to the current station and subject specialization.
Government Ensures Smooth Transition
Speaking during a press briefing, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos assured that the government was committed to ensuring a smooth transition to Grade 9 by deploying qualified teachers progressively. He said 93% of the planned 16,000 Grade 9 classrooms constructed in four phases in the country were complete, while the government had allocated KSh 4.8 billion to recruit 20,000 intern teachers for JSS who would be retooled in January.
Since the rollout of CBC in 2019, TSC has retooled 229,292 teachers on Competency-Based Curriculum and Assessment, CBC and CBA. Of these, 60,642 are JSS teachers retooled between May 2023 and November 2024.