MPs demand Treasury releases cash for hiring of teachers
Treasury CS Henry Rotich at a past function. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
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When reached for comment, Mr Rotich said the issue was being handled by relevant government agencies.
TSC has raised an alarm over a possible crisis in the education sector in January unless at least 70,000 teachers are hired to support the growing population in schools.
Parliament has reprimanded the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich over his failure to release Sh5 billion to Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for recruitment of 10,000 tutors.
National Assembly’s Education Committee chaired by Julius Melly (Tinderet MP) resolved that Mr Rotich must release the cash to TSC before schools reopen in 2019.
“We need the teachers as soon as possible so that our children can have quality education,” said Mr Melly, warning that the committee has had enough of Mr Rotich’s promises.
When reached for comment, Mr Rotich said the issue was being handled by relevant government agencies.
“We are in discussion with the Ministry of Education and TSC on the matter,” said Mr Rotich.
This month, TSC raised an alarm over a possible crisis in the education sector in January unless at least 70,000 teachers are hired to support the growing population in schools.
TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia said there is need for 57, 380 teachers for secondary schools, noting that the number is exclusive of the shortage occasioned by the 100 percent transition.
“As you’re aware, we made a proposal to recruit 12, 626 annually for four years since 2018 at a cost of Sh8.3 billion per year,” said Mrs Macharia.
“We were lucky to receive funds for 8,700 this year. Although the number was lower than that required, the teachers recruited have already reported and are helping to ease the workload,” said Mr Rotich.
A total of more than one million new students will join secondary schools next year as part of government’s 100 per cent transition policy.
Already, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has announced that the Ministry will provide Sh16 billion for infrastructure development starting January.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Wilson Sossion speaking during the 61th Annual Delegates Conference in Nairobi said the government must hire more teachers.
“We cannot talk of quality education when schools have a serious shortage of teachers,” said Mr Sossion.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Secretary General Akelo Misori echoed similar sentiments saying more resources should be directed to schools to support recruitment of more teachers.
Currently, there are 312, 000 teachers in the country while 290,000 teachers are trained but are yet to be recruited by the government.
