Low grades lock out graduate teachers

Teachers in a meeting . Unemployed university graduate teachers who scored below C plain in Form Four have been locked out of the ongoing recruitment of 5,547 high school staff.

In Summary

• But Mr Lengoiboni said all those with C plain in KCSE and degrees will be recruited for primary schools but offered salaries for graduates.inShare

Unemployed university graduate teachers who scored below C plain in Form Four have been locked out of the ongoing recruitment of 5,547 high school staff.

The Teachers Service Commission insisted that only those who obtained C+ and above would be hired to teach in secondary schools.

Thousands of primary school teachers, some of them unemployed, have earned degrees, which technically allows them to be promoted to graduate teachers.

Wednesday, secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni adviced P1 teachers who obtained degrees yet they had a C plain in Form four final exams to apply for primary school places.

The commission is recruiting 5,592 new teachers for public primary schools.

But Mr Lengoiboni said all those with C plain in KCSE and degrees will be recruited for primary schools but offered salaries for graduates.

“Our rule is clear that we only upgrade them but they continue teaching in primary schools,” he said.

Mr Lengoiboni also feared that the commission would not find enough arts graduates in history, religious Studies and business studies.

In the last decade, the commission gave incentives to science teachers, prompting university students to flock to the sciences, he said.

“We are now requesting our universities to train more arts-oriented teachers,” Mr Lengoiboni said.

The commission yesterday advertised 11,139 vacancies for teachers in primary and post-primary teachers in its website www.tsc.go.ke.

Of these 5,122 would be posted to primary schools and 4,878 in secondary schools.

Some 1,139 will replace those who have left in the past one year due to natural attrition.

Kitui county will recruit the highest number of primary school teachers (280) followed by Kakamega (270), Kilifi (232), Narok (236), Makueni (229) and Homa Bay 227.

Interested candidates must send in their applications before August 16.

Those who had registered with TSC at the height of the teachers’ strike last month have been advised to apply afresh.