Youth are increasingly abandoning teaching for ‘more lucrative careers’, leading to a shortage of teachers, Mvita MP Mohamed Machele has said.
He said the shortage has forced schools to look for teachers outside the constituency. Machele said many students now prefer nursing, medicine and business administration that are deemed to have higher salaries.
“We don’t have teachers from our local communities. This is unfortunate because the same community members then later complain about the number of teachers from upcountry,” he said.
To boost uptake levels, the MP said he will give a full scholarship to any student from Mvita constituency who will undertake a teaching course.
“From next year, we will set aside some funds that will be dedicated to a scholarship scheme. Anyone who will come to us with an aim of taking a teaching course, will be sponsored 100 per cent,” Machele said.
“And when you finish your course, I will walk with you to ensure you are absorbed by the Teachers Service Commission and deployed to our schools in Mvita.”
He said he is disappointed that a few weeks ago, President William Ruto allocated each MP 10 slots for junior secondary school teachers only for them to lack people to fill up the slots.
Machele spoke during the issuance of bursaries worth Sh28 million to 6,300 secondary school students. He said the Teachers Service Commission hiring criteria has changed and it requires applicants to be from the subcounty they want to teach in.
“Your national ID will be checked. If you are from Lamu county and you applied to teach in Mvita constituency in Mombasa county, you won’t make it. You must be from Mvita,” Machele said.
“Teaching is not just a profession but a way of giving back to society. Let us encourage our children to take up this course to bridge the shortage.”
Mvita has 30 public primary schools and 16 public secondary schools. He said Mvita had to get secondary school teachers who were employed by school boards but were yet to be absorbed by the government to take up the JSS vacancies.
There is an estimated shortage of about 100,000 teachers. Public schools also face staffing challenges despite efforts by the government to hire 20,000 teachers on contract.
The matter has been worsened by the transition of more than a million learners to Grade 9 under the Competency-Based Curriculum. TSC last year converted 39,550 teachers from contract to permanent terms.
