Teachers in the country will no longer work extra hours if the latest promise from president William Ruto is upheld.
Ruto noted that in January 2023, his government will embark on an exercise of recruiting 30,000 teachers.
Speaking in Komarock on Wednesday, October 12, the president added that the recruitment drive will be the first phase of the process whose end goal is to hire 116,000 teachers.
“I understand that we have a huge shortage of teachers in the country. And we agreed that during the elections that we will consistently and deliberately reduce the gap between the number of teachers in the school and those supposed to be in the school,” he announced.
"Beginning January, we are going to begin phase one. We will recruit 30,000 teachers. We are going to recruit both permanent and pensionable as well as those on internship basis,” Ruto added.
Furthermore, Ruto disclosed that discussions with the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) to draft the way forward for recruitment were already complete.
Additionally, Ruto noted that within five years, the government will have recruited enough teachers who will be distributed in all schools across the country.
At the Komarock Primary School opening, Ruto recognised efforts of the qualified volunteer teachers in the schools.
He noted that the government will also look for ways to increase the number of schools both in primary and secondary levels.
"We want all our children to learn in an environment where there are enough classrooms and enough teachers and we can have the meaningful acquisition of knowledge in our schools,"
The Ruto-led administration has previously emphasised the need to improve the education system in the country, which was evident as he unveiled the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) task force.
Notably, the government has also hinted at retaining the outgoing Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha.
"You have expressed patriotism that though you are outgoing, you did not just leave other people to come and take care of the Ministry. I want to assure you that we are not in a hurry to get rid of you," deputy president Rigathi Gachagua stated.
