Speaking at the 2025 Labour Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens on May 1, 2025, Ruto said his administration has reduced the teacher shortage gap, which stood at 116,000 in 2022, by hiring over 76,000 teachers in the last two years.
“We have set aside Sh2.4 billion to hire an additional 20,000 intern teachers starting January 2026,” the president stated.
He also highlighted that the government has allocated Sh1.6 billion for teacher capacity building and another Sh1 billion specifically for the promotion of teachers.
“These investments have improved student-teacher ratios, enhanced literacy and numeracy outcomes, and created stable employment in communities across the country,” Ruto emphasised.
In January 2025, the government hired 46,000 teachers on permanent terms and recruited 20,000 more as interns.
The country's education system has long struggled with overcrowded classrooms, under-resourced schools, and high pupil-teacher ratios, especially in rural and marginalised areas.
According to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the country had a shortage of over 100,000 teachers in both primary and secondary schools as of 2022, putting immense pressure on the existing workforce.
Ruto’s administration made addressing this shortage one of its key priorities, promising not only to hire more teachers but also to improve their welfare and working conditions.
The president’s latest announcement underscores a broader push to strengthen the quality of education, which has been highlighted as a cornerstone of Kenya’s Vision 2030 development blueprint.
The recruitment drive and investments in training and promotions are also seen as part of efforts to meet the demands of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), which requires more personalised teaching and continuous assessment.
Ruto
reaffirmed the government’s commitment to supporting teachers, calling them
“essential drivers” of national development and key to ensuring that every
Kenyan child receives quality education.
