TSC launch online lessons to address shortage of teachers

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) together with other stakeholders will today launch an online teaching plan that will help address the teacher shortage and deliver lessons to learners in marginalised regions.

TSC will launch the programme today at Alliance Girls High School.

Under the plan dubbed live streaming of lessons, well-staffed schools with better facilities will virtually share their lessons with other institutions.

This means the principal school, which will be the institution offering lessons, will share classes with the satellite schools, most of which will be in ASAL areas.

A brief from the TSC says the principal schools are those that have teachers for all science subjects, Mathematics and English.

“The teachers will be trained on how to deliver the lessons with the satellite schools in mind, assemble, disable the ICT equipment and basic troubleshooting techniques,” reads the brief.

One school will be able to serve a number of satellite institutions if they need the lessons. A TSC insider said: “If a school does not have a physics teacher, the satellite institution will log in during the subject lesson and stream for the students. This will apply to other subjects that the institutions require help in.”

The project is part of the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Programme (SEQIP), which covers counties that are mainly in the ASAL areas. These are counties that bear a bigger burden of teacher shortage mainly because of hostile environment, a lack of social amenities and in some cases, insecurity.

“The intervention will first be piloted in 12 schools – two principal schools to serve 10 satellite schools, each of five,” reads the brief. The two-month pilot will target Form II classes.

“The satellite schools will be required to align their Form II timetable with that of the principal school. The schools will use Microsoft Teams to attend the lessons.” The brief further says lessons will be recorded to allow the students to review them offline on a need basis.

“TSC County Directors and Sub-County Director, curriculum support officers and ICT officers will also be trained and incorporated in the programme,” reads the brief. During the pilot period, a team comprising ICT, Quality Assurance staff and staffing officers will visit the schools to assess the impact of the intervention.

TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said the commission has initiated alternative modes of curriculum delivery to reduce learning disparities.

TSC is faced with acute teachers shortage. For the period spanning 2019-2022, the Commission shall require a total of 36,804 teachers for the full implementation of the 100pc transition for primary to secondary school level.