The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has started deploying Primary Teacher Education (PTE) teachers to secondary schools across the country.
This has been revealed through the Commission’s official communication with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT).
The Commission’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said that more teachers will be required to ensure seamless implementation of the competency-based curriculum (CBC).
According to the Secretary General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), the deployment process is ongoing.
“The process of deployment began a long time ago. It has been an ongoing process in readiness for the next year’s Junior Secondary transition,” said Collins Oyuu.
The Commission sent five deployment letters to Nairobi County, while Kilifi, Kiambu, Makueni, Embu and Kajiado counties each received three. Nakuru County got three letters of deployment.
TSC has informed the public of the qualifications required for CBC instructors at the Junior Secondary School level.
Besides, the Commission also revealed that it will provide training for the instructors who shall be assigned to Junior Secondary schools.
This year TSC has not advertised for deployment positions but instead used a merit list compiled from prior applications to deploy PTE teachers.
In 2019 and 2020, TSC advertised 1,000 deployment positions in an effort to address teacher shortage saying that the recruited teachers will help with 100 per cent primary-to-secondary school transition.
TSC recruits teachers with deployment a form of advancement for primary school teachers with advanced degrees.
Members of Parliament pressured TSC to allow the promotion of teachers with a KCSE mean grade of C or below as well as those with a diploma, postgraduate diploma, or degree from a recognized learning institution.
However, the Commission increased the requirements for teachers seeking to teach at the Junior Secondary School level.
Besides the requirement of being a Kenyan citizen, candidates must possess a P1 certificate and a bachelor’s degree in education with two teaching subjects.
Besides possessing a degree with a secondary option, deployed teachers are required to at least attain a C+ in the topics they teach while serving under the Commission.
However, many primary school teachers enrolled in various universities and studied degree-level options despite having a C (plain) on average on their KCSE examination.
The University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, Pwani and Mount Kenya registered and taught students with a mean grade of C (Plain) in their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).