Desperation as 356,000 teachers jostle for only 14,000 TSC slots

A total of 356,000 tutors are said to have applied for 14,000 teaching vacancies that were re-advertised by the Teachers Service Commission(TSC) last month.

The commission re-advertised the vacancies with aim of filling the staffing gap of tutors in schools.

According to the TSC, the slots attracted the highest number of applicants, claiming this would demoralise other applicants as only the top five candidates for each advertised position will be shortlisted from the 356,000 that applied.

"System generated applicants list shall be used by the county selection panel to shortlist five applicants for every post advertised," said TSC.

READ:TSC re-advertises 844 posts for teachers in North Eastern

TSC noted that fewer teachers applied for teaching jobs in North Eastern counties which was the main area the recruitment exercise was set to focus on.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) CEO Dr Nancy Macharia speaking during launch of live-streamed lessons at the Alliance Girls High School Pulse Live Kenya

“However, some areas in the Asal [arid and semi-arid lands] zones might have fewer applicants,” TSC added.

Data released by the Teachers Service Commission, indicates that the post-primary teaching vacancies drew the most elevated numbers of competitors with 219,311 tutors showing interest in the 4,000 available placements.

The data also details that in the advertised 1,000 new posts for primary school teachers, 136,833 applicants applied for the vacancies.

TSC also was seeking to employ 8,230 teachers to replace those who had resigned from the service through natural attrition. The position was for both primary schools (6,539) and post-primary institutions (1,691) which attracted 327,882 contenders.

The qualified candidates are set to be published on the TSC website this week, as they wait to be interviewed by the TSC recruitment panel.

"Every detail about shortlisted applicants, interviews, dates, and venues shall be published on the Teacher's Service Commission website," the commission stated.

The commission plans to conduct the selection process and handling of complaints in the next two weeks before the thriving prospects report to schools on September 1, 2022.