• Approved public primary teachers dropped by 6,715 in 2018
• Current Pupil-Teacher Ratio at 40.5:1
P1 certified teachers accounted for more than half of the total number of teachers in public primary schools last year, Economic Survey 2019 reveals.
Tutors with P1 certificates made up 51.1 per cent of the total number of teachers, a drop by 0.8 per cent.
In 2018, the total number of teachers was 217,152 compared to 215,363 the previous year.
The Teachers Service Commission hired 1000 teachers to public primary schools in 2018. In the same year, 6,743 teachers who exited the service by natural attrition were replaced by the commission.
Even after recruitment and replacement last year, 1,789 public primary teachers left the service and were not replaced.
For every teacher on contract hired in 2018, a total of 982 teachers on permanent terms were hired in public primary schools, Economic Survey 2019 reveals.
In the past two years, the number of contracted primary school tutors was significantly low while that of teachers with P1 certificates grew.
In 2015, a total of 1,671 contract teachers were deployed to public primary schools but the number declined to 22 in 2017 and improved to 219 tutors last year.
In 2017, there was a total of 103,262 P1 certified teachers who appreciated to 109,954 in 2018.
All other categories of public primary teachers had a decline in number. These include S1 certified, graduate, approved, diploma and certificate teachers.
The greatest drop was seen among approved teachers that marked a 6,715 reduction from 53,000 in 2017.
Even as teachers on temporary and non-pensionable employment and P1 certified teachers increased last year, the total number of teachers dropped.
The current Pupil-Teacher Ratio in public primary schools at 40.5 pupils per teacher.
The ratio is still higher than the recommended PTR in Kenya of 40 pupils per teacher indicating a gap in the number of public primary school teachers that ought to be breached.
Rapid primary school enrollment further calls for more teacher recruitment.
With the commission having not received a budget allocation for the 2018/2019 financial year,the teacher recruitment process by the teacher employer was further crippled.