Kalenjins form majority in TSC January recruitment - report

Members of the Kalenjin community form the majority of teachers recruited by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in January this year, a report to a Parliamentary committee shows.

The interim report, which was presented to the Select Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity by TSC boss Nancy Macharia on Thursday, said the commission recruited a total of 36,000 teachers.

Macharia noted that the commission has already finalised the onboarding process of 20,990 new teachers from the total number of 36,000 recruited.

The report showed teachers from the Kalenjin community were the majority of the newly recruited teachers on the payroll at 4,048.

They were closely followed by Luhya (3,187), Kikuyu (2,913), Luo (2,576), Kisii (1,737) and Meru (1,122).

Macharia, however, promised to provide a detailed report of all the 36, 000 in June after the commission concludes updating its records.

The TSC boss further informed that the commission will recruit an additional 20, 000 teachers in the next financial year if their budget proposal is approved by the National Assembly.

She noted that of the 20,990 whose recruitment has been finalised, the age distribution ranges between 21 to 56 years with the majority being 28 years old.

She added that 43 per cent of those recruited were female while 57 per cent were male.

Macharia pointed out that the commission recruited all Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) who applied for employment.

“In this recruitment, all persons living with disability who applied for recruitment totaling 229 were recruited,” she stated.

The PWDs had various forms of disability; albinism (2), epilepsy (12), hearing impairment (40), mental impairment (2), physical disabilities (120) and visual impairment (53).

Kasipul MP Charles Were termed the report by TSC as too brief and demanded a detailed document when the commission will be presenting its final document to the committee in June.

“We need the names of these people and even the staff register. We want to see if you are correcting historical injustices in employment at the commission,” he said.

Laikipia County Woman Rep Jane Kagiri said the committee should be told where the 36,000 teachers have been posted.

 She added that the commission should also consider deploying adequate teachers to Special Schools.

“You have done well by employing all PWDs who applied. You also need to consider the plight of children with special needs,” she said.

Macharia said the commission had issued instructions that all PWDs who applied be given first chance during recruitment.

She said the commission has not provided adequate teachers to Special Schools because of financial constraints.

“Since we do have the money, we have been treating Special Schools as disadvantaged areas so that they get above what we give other schools,” she explained.