The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has issued on primary school teachers not to teach in Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) unless they have received deployment letters on the same from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
This piece of information was relayed via a communique signed by Secretary-General Collins Oyuu whereby the teachers’ union said that teachers across the country have been forcefully allocated to Junior Secondary School subjects without proper guidelines from the Teachers Service Commission.
“We are saddened by the cry of our members, who are P1 teachers, saying that they are forced to have lessons in junior secondary schools. We need clear guidelines on how teachers will be awarded for the extra work they will perform,” read part of the memo.
The memo had been copied to all branch chairpersons, executive secretaries, and members. Branch officials were instructed to report any cases of schools forcing teachers to teach in JSS without following guidelines from TSC.
On Saturday the Commission announced to primary school teachers to apply for deployment n JSS.
“Mwalimu, did you know that you can apply for deployment from Primary to Junior Secondary School (JSS) if you have the requisite qualifications?” posted TSC on their Twitter handle.
Required Qualifications
- Must have attained at least a C+ (Plus) mean grade in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) or its equivalent
- Must have attained at least grade C+ (Plus) in the two teaching subjects at the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) or its equivalent
- Have at least eight (8) units in each of the two teaching subjects.
- Must be serving as a primary school teachers under the Teachers Service Commission
How to Apply
To apply for Junior Secondary School (JSS) deployment, visit the link https://tsconline.tsc.go.ke/tsc-teacher/login
There is an acute shortage of teachers across all public schools both primary and secondary.
The introduction of the JSS has only made the situation even worse.
The shortage of teachers can be attributed to among other factors low teacher salaries, poor working conditions, and a lack of training and professional development opportunities.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has been working on reducing the shortage of teachers but it still remains a significant challenge.
The Commission deploys teachers to schools to address the shortage with primary school teachers now set to be deployed to junior secondary schools.