TSC Forced to Lower the Deployment Requirements for P1 Teachers To Teach JSS
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has long used primary school teachers to teach at secondary schools as a means of developing them.
Following the implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), the Commission has continued to promote teachers by assigning them to junior secondary schools.
The first cohorts of PTE teachers, who applied by February 6th, 2023, were deployed to junior educate Grade 7 learners after their documents were confirmed by their Sub County Directors and they were handed deployment (posting) letters.
The graduate teachers’ deployment letters indicated that they will begin at work group C2, where they will earn a gross wage of ksh 58,335 per month.
TSC stated in a circular dated February 17, 2023 that it received a total of 10,833 requests from eligible primary school teachers for deployment to Junior Secondary Schools.
However, only about 7,400 teachers qualified and were assigned to teach grade 7 students.
TSC has yet to deploy the second cohorts of practising PTE instructors to junior secondary schools, whose applications were due on March 22, 2023.
Also Read: TSC Revised Recruitment Guidelines, Requirements and Qualifications For Teachers
The Commission is expecting funds to be able to assign instructors to schools near their current station.
The Commission’s largest problem is finding enough instructors to staff the junior secondary school sector.
TSC employed 33,500 junior secondary school teachers. This equated to one teacher each class.
The deployment was intended to supplement the gap, however there is still a significant shortage of teachers.
TSC has asked Sh3.8 million in this budget for the hire of 20,000 additional intern teachers to bolster JSS, which was launched in January but is facing major staffing challenges.
However, this will result in a substantial shortfall, despite the fact that the number of P1 instructors certified to support teaching Grade 7 and 8 students has decreased dramatically.
The Commission has refused to cave in to demands to decrease the criteria for deployment to junior secondary schools.
TSC has currently stated the following credentials for instructors who want to be assigned to JSS.
Primary school teachers who seek to be sent to JSS must be secondary school certified. The teacher MUST satisfy the following requirements:
i) Be a registered teacher with the Teachers Service Commission.
ii) Is a primary school teacher with the Teachers Service Commission.
iii) Should not be currently serving an interdiction or going through a disciplinary process.
iv) Have a Diploma in Education with a minimum of C+ at KCSE (or its equivalent) with C+ in two teaching courses currently given in the school curriculum (either under 8-4-4 or CBC) or two (2) principles and one (1) subsidiary pass at “A” Level.
Those who have completed a Diploma in Education as well as a Bachelor Degree in Education and have a minimum grade C (plain) at KCSE (or its equivalent) qualify.
v) The degree certificate must be a Bachelor of Education. Bachelor of Education (Primary Option) holders are not eligible.
vi) Must have expressed an interest in being deployed to Junior Secondary School and have their name on the list supplied by Headquarters.
The Commission has being pressed to enable primary school teachers with a KCSE mean grade C (simple) and a degree secondary option but no diploma to be assigned to junior secondary.
Teachers with different diplomas and degrees have also pressed TSC to let them supervise junior secondary school students.
These include ECDE and Special Needs Education. Though the TSC refused to accept these teachers, circumstances may have pushed them to.
This is due to the government’s inability to hire enough instructors, despite the fact that Grade 7 students will begin Grade 8 in January of next year.
A huge catastrophe beckons unless TSC lowers deployment restrictions to handle the severe teacher shortage that is expected next year.
TSC Forced to Lower the Deployment Requirements for P1 Teachers To Teach JSS
