What You Need to Know
Moses Wetang’ula, the National Assembly Speaker, has raised alarms about the severe teacher shortage in rural schools, urging the Ministry of Education to redistribute teachers effectively. He emphasized that despite the government employing over 100,000 teachers, many rural areas remain understaffed, with some schools lacking up to 28 teachers. Wetang’ula called for equitable distribution to meet
Africa-Press – Kenya. The National Assembly Speaker, Moses Wetang’ula, has raised concerns over the acute shortage of teachers in rural schools and urged the Ministry of Education to ensure urgent and planned redistribution of staff to address the imbalance.
Speaking at St Francis Kolongolo Girls Secondary School in Kwanza Constituency, Trans Nzoia County, on Saturday, Wetang’ula said the disparity in teacher deployment across the country was alarming and needed immediate intervention.
He noted that the shortage persists despite the government having employed over 100,000 teachers, with an additional 20,000 set to be recruited in June and July this year.
“The Principal here said that there are not enough teachers, and this is something that I want to take up with our Education CS. Since President William Ruto came into power, he has employed 100,000 teachers with an additional planned 20,000 in June and July this year. Therefore, we should not have a situation where we have an unfair ratio of teachers,” Wetang’ula said.
“When teachers are being employed, they say that they are ready to serve in any part of the republic; however, when they are employed and posted in rural areas, they now start bargaining to be moved to urban areas, leaving rural areas understaffed,” he added.
According to the Speaker, the situation in some rural schools remains dire, citing Kolongolo Secondary School, where the shortage stands at up to 28 teachers.
Wetang’ula said the staffing gap is unjustified, especially under William Ruto’s administration, which he noted has made progress in improving the teacher-to-learner ratio nationally.
He argued that equitable distribution of teachers is now more critical than recruitment, asserting that no region should be disadvantaged due to poor deployment policies.
The Speaker called on Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba to ensure that teacher postings are handled fairly and not influenced by personal preferences for urban stations.
He pointed out that the tendency by teachers to favour urban postings has significantly contributed to the staffing imbalance in schools across the country.
This comes at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is set to upgrade 200 offices across the country as it prepares for a major teacher recruitment drive.
The boost is aimed at enhancing connectivity and improving digital infrastructure to serve the commission’s operations and targets.
The issue of teacher shortages in rural areas of Kenya has been a persistent challenge, exacerbated by urban migration trends among teachers. Many educators prefer urban postings due to better living conditions and opportunities, leading to significant staffing gaps in rural schools. This disparity affects the quality of education in these regions, prompting calls for policy changes to ensure fair distribution of teaching staff across the country. The government has made efforts to recruit more teachers, but deployment strategies need to be reevaluated to address the imbalance effectively.
