• The MPs said they will be summoning Interior CS Kithure Kindiki to address the issue of insecurity in the North Eastern region and how teachers in the area will be protected.
• The CEO insisted that the vacancies are open for anyone who wishes to apply.
Image: FILE
Trained unemployed teachers in North Eastern counties have been avoiding teaching vacancies in the area, the Teachers Service Commission has revealed.
While appearing before the National Assembly Education Committee on Tuesday, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia said the Commission advertised 36,000 vacancies in December 2022 and recruited 35,790.
However, 210 vacancies for intern teachers have not been filled in Mandera, Wajir and Garissa counties because no applications were submitted.
She said 174 vacancies have not been filled in Mandera, 29 in Wajir and seven in Garissa counties.
"The 210 vacancies were re-advertised in May 2023 but did not attract any applicants from the three regions," Macharia said.
“We have even talked to the leaders and sent letters to the governors and also advertised openly through papers and websites. We have done everything there is to do.”
The Committee had sought to know why the positions remained vacant despite the Commission placing adverts.
Macharia said teachers are reluctant to take up internship posts in some areas due to insecurity and unfavourable working conditions.
The North Eastern region has over the years borne the brunt of terror attacks where a number of teachers lost their lives prompting an uproar over the delocalisation policy.
The delocalisation policy was initiated by the TSC in 2018 but was done away with in November 2022 after Parliament passed a motion by Lurambi MP Titus Khamala.
The House proposed then that trained teachers from terror-prone areas be posted within their home areas to avert further attacks on non-local teachers.
Macharia said the Commission is facing a challenge of inadequate budgetary provisions to recruit an adequate number of teachers to bridge the deficit.
The MPs said they will be summoning Interior CS Kithure Kindiki to address the issue of insecurity in the North Eastern region.
“It is a crisis of serious proportion that we must be able to address as a committee. We need to summon the CS for internal security so that we can be able to fill the issue of insecurity in North Eastern and teachers to be protected,” the committee said.
“Because TSC may not have a way out but through the Ministry of Internal Security that issue of insecurity can depress particularly to our teachers.”
Macharia reiterated that in order to address the issue, the Commission has endeavoured to retain teachers in their subcounty of choice where vacancies exist to cut relocation expenses.
The CEO insisted that the vacancies are open for anyone who wishes to apply.
“The Commission has however been extending timelines on affirmative action as well as re-advertising the positions severally to attract applicants from the region,” Macharia said.
“Anybody who has to go to North Eastern has to apply and has to agree to serve for three years and so on.”
To further address the teacher shortage in Junior Secondary Schools, the Commission mapped and deployed 8, 367 qualified primary school teachers.
Macharia noted that the portal for application for deployment to JSS is still vacant and teachers who acquire the necessary qualifications are free to apply and be deployed on a continuous basis.