The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is set to start the process of mass registration of all teachers countrywide in a bid to weed out ghost workers who are on the commission's payroll.
Speaking during a media engagement forum on Saturday, November 27, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia lauded the pilot program of the biometric registration which had kicked off earlier in the year. She noted that the program, which was carried out across 143 institutions in seven selected counties, was successful.
She noted that the commission is set to roll out the exercise across the 47 counties in March 2022.
"We piloted it and we shall now go full throttle in March next year. This will be about getting the actual data of teachers including the academic details of the tutors, their family life hence we want to get a whole bio-data of the teachers," she stated.
According to Macharia, more than 300,000 teachers will be required to provide their biometric data in order to establish the actual number of tutors in the country.
"We will ask the teachers to update their details on an occasional basis in order to enhance service delivery," she pointed out, noting that this would be achieved by tapping into technology.
In addition to using fingerprints to capture details, each teacher will produce their national identity card or birth certificate and any other relevant identification documents such as employment or designation letters.
Data for teachers in special programs as well as for curriculum support officers in all zones will also be captured.
The exercise will also reveal teacher distribution based on subject combinations and will unearth staffing gaps that will inform training needs for various subject areas.
Further, the TSC boss addressed the issue of teacher shortage in the country, noting that the Western region was mostly affected by the scarcity.
She noted that the Commission would address this in order to ensure service delivery across the country.
The pilot program had targeted seven counties including Uasin Gishu, Homa Bay, Bungoma, Nyeri, Kilifi, Kitui and Garissa. The counties were selected because they presented both rural and urban setups.
