Promotion or demotion? TSC takes 25,000 high school teachers to JSS

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is in the process of deploying over twenty thousand secondary school teachers to junior secondary schools (JSS) by January 2025.

In a memo addressed to Regional, County, Sub County Directors and Principals of secondary schools, TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia ordered for immediate registration of secondary school teachers employed after the year 2015 to facilitate their deployment to JSS.

All Principals of secondary schools are required to submit names of teachers in their stations employed from 2016 to TSC Sub County Directors offices by Friday 18th October 2024.

This was revealed as the Commission has suspended recruitment of 20,000 teachers it planned to hire this year due to unavailability of funds.

TSC had planned to employ 20,000 teachers on internship terms where 18,000 were for JSS and 2,000 for primary schools.

The 18,000 JSS intern teachers were intended to support learning in JSS especially from January where JSS will have Grade 9 class.

However following the cash crunch facing government agencies, the Commission has deferred employment of the teachers to next year.

TSC has now turned to excess teachers in secondary schools to address teacher shortage in Grade 9 class next year.

Thousands of secondary school teachers will be idling as all secondary schools will not have Form one class from January 2025 as Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) takes over.

The Commission has directed the teachers to be deployed to junior secondary schools near their current working stations. The deployment will also be based on subject.

TSC has also directed that 450 secondary school intern teachers recruited in April 2023 be deployed to junior secondary after their confirmation to permanent and pensionable terms.

Principals were given till 11th October 2024 to submit names of the teachers to the TSC Sub County Directors offices.

This latest move by TSC complicates its initial plan to deploy 25,000 primary school teachers to JSS.

The Commission had planned to deploy P1 teachers who upgraded their certificates to Diploma and Degree to teach in JSS.

TSC said the deployments will be done in phases for the financial year 2024 – 2025 where first phase was to happen in September, second phase in January and final phase in June.

The mass deployment of secondary school teachers to JSS simply means only a small number of PTE teachers will be moved to handle grades 7, 8 and 9 classes next year.