Members of the National Assembly have urged the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to take immediate action to address the unemployment of the over 39,000 registered teachers aged 45 years and above.
This directive was made after the Committee on Education met with the acting TSC CEO, Evaleen Mitei, who attributed the unemployment of the teachers to limited location data of the teachers and a lack of budget.
“The Commission regrets that out of the 39,017 teachers, only 2,837 provided full location data. This limits our ability to analyse the regional distribution of these teachers accurately,” Mitei said.
However, the Committee Chairperson, Julius Melly, directed the commission to appear before the committee in the next two weeks and table a clear database showcasing the distribution of these teachers by county and sub-county.
“Before counties, we had districts. These districts became counties. It is possible to give us this information. We need a comprehensive and cleaned-up register," the MP said.
Furthermore, committee members have further urged the commission to ensure that they get the exact data on the unemployed teachers in the next teachers' recruitment drive to avoid unnecessary delays in their employment.
According to Mitei, who promised to take swift action to secure employment for the teachers, the teachers have the freedom to look for jobs in private schools.
The acting CEO further claimed that it has already advised the Ministry of Education to fabricate market-driven teacher training programs to ensure a better match between supply and demand.
The directive comes days after the Education Cabinet Secretary, Julius Ogamba, claimed that the ministry is in the process of adjusting the recruitment and training of teachers in colleges in a bid to accommodate thousands of unemployed teachers in the country.
Speaking on Wednesday, June 25, Ogamba claimed that the move aims to ensure that colleges admit just the right number of students, depending on the actual demand for teachers in the job market.
According to the CS, if this is done, the 62,000 trained but currently unemployed teachers will have a chance to be absorbed by the government.
"The government, in consultation with stakeholders, will critically review pre-service admissions to teacher training colleges to match intakes with the prevailing and projected job market. This will also facilitate the absorption of around 62,000 trained but currently unemployed teachers," the CS said.
The ministry aims to hire at least 24,000 teachers within the next financial year, which will bring the total number of teachers hired in the past two years to 100,000, according to Ogamba.
