Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu's request to be allocated Ksh100 million to train new teachers was rejected, with Parliament directing him to prioritise hiring jobless graduates.
Machogu, who appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Education on Monday, was accompanied by Principal Secretaries Esther Muhoria (Technical, Vocational Education and Training - TVET) and Dr. Belio Kipsang (Basic Education).
In his submission, the CS wanted the money to be approved under the Ministry's Supplementary Budget estimates for the current financial year, 2023/24.
PS Muhoria further explained that the money would aid in the induction and training of newly recruited Vocational and Technical Trainers (tutors). The government, early this year, hired nearly 1,000 teachers to be posted across 144 TVETs.
The Public Service Commission reiterated that it was looking for both degree and diploma holders to fill the positions, in line with President William Ruto's pledge to reduce teacher shortage.
However, the tutors lack sufficient professional teaching skills and need to be re-trained to enhance their capacity, according to PS Muhoria.
Her request was, nonetheless, opposed by the committee chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly.
"Why should you spend such a huge amount of money on retraining the tutors? The cash should be channeled to equipping the learning institutions or any other useful venture," MP Melly wondered.
"There are thousands of Kenyans with degrees in various technical subjects and postgraduate diplomas in education. These are the people you need to hire when looking for tutors. There is no need to incur an extra cost in training people," he further advised.
To cover the shortcomings and avoid spending a lot of money on hiring and then retraining teachers, CS Machogu reassured the MPs that his ministry would prioritise applicants who have postgraduate training in education.
Meanwhile, Basic Education CS Belio Kipsang asked the committee to convince the Treasury to allocate Ksh22 billion more in the Ministry's total budget to enhance the school capitation program.
Kipsang emphasized that the program was crucial to the operation of secondary institutions and that students were set to miss out on funds.
The MPs promised to look into the matter and consult their Treasury counterparts to take decisive action.
