The Teacher service Commission (TSC) has revealed that 7,908 teachers are set to retire by December 31 this year after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60.
TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia, however, assured that the commission has put in place mechanisms to ensure the retiring teachers are promptly replaced.
“To mitigate shortage, the commission formulated a policy that ensures wherever teachers exit service on natural attrition, for instance retirement or death in service among other reasons, the vacant positions are promptly advertised and competitively filled within a month,” Macharia explained
There are about 312,000 teachers registered with TSC but still not employed.
The commission has employed 5,000 annually over the last three financial years.
The total number of employed teachers currently stands at 337,432.
In the first quarter of 2020/21 Financial Year alone, TSC registered at least 8,500 teachers, which further raised the number of tutors scrambling to be employed by the commission against the minimal slots available annually.
Already, the teacher’s employer is in the process of recruiting additional tutors, with county selection exercise for teachers and filling application for employment forms by successful candidates underway.
The commission is similarly expected to replace teachers, who are needed to drive the tight curriculum schedule for next year.
In September, it announced a massive recruitment drive, with successful candidates expected to report to their duty stations in January. The new recruitment attracted over 300,000 applicants who applied for the teaching job.
To qualify for recruitment, a candidate must be eligible to serve for a minimum period of 10 continuous years, effective the date of first appointment as required by law.
Last week, Macharia told the Senate Education Committee that in determining the teacher shortage, the commission is guided by staffing norms as opposed to teacher-learner ratio.
To address understaffing, Macharia said the commission has consistently requested for increased budgetary provisions to employ 20,000 annually.
“This has not borne much fruit as the National Assembly appropriates Sh2.5 billion annually for recruitment of 5,000 teachers,” explained Macharia