Education CS, Ezekiel Machogu has revealed that the State plans to hire an additional 24, 000 teachers in the next financial year.
In the previous financial year, the government hired 36,000, who were deployed to plug shortage in Junior Secondary.
“In the next financial year, we will hire an additional 24,000 teachers. It is crucial that we deploy these teachers in our schools in a manner that reflects equity,” said Machogu.
While addressing heads of schools in Mombasa, the CS said the education sector received the highest chunk of the budget in this financial year at Sh628.6 billion, accounting for 29 per cent of the total budget.
“It is an increase from the Sh544.4 billion that was allocated to the sector in the last financial year. Indeed, it was a new record and for a good reason; to improve the quality of education in the country”, he added.
Shortage
Last month Teachers Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia revealed the acute shortage that the agency seeks to bridge in the next five years, subject to availability of funds.
“To address the teacher shortage, the commission requires to recruit 111,870 teachers over a period of five years,” Macharia told the Senate’s National Cohesion and Integration Committee on Tuesday.
According to TSC boss, the shortage comprises 47,329 at primary level and 64,541 in post-primary institutions.
Macharia stated that the commission requires annual budgetary allocation of Sh14.8 billion for the next five years to bridge the teachers’ gap. This translates to about Sh74 billion.