Kenyan Teachers Flock UK, US Escaping TSC Burden
Teachers are reportedly leaving the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to pursue more lucrative opportunities in first-world countries.
One of the teachers told NTV on Sunday that the salaries offered abroad were in the six figures and more lucrative than their local earnings.
“As a teacher in Kenya, the only thing you can afford is maybe to build a small 2-bedroom house and pay school fees for two children,” Felix Wanyaga noted.
Another teacher complained that changing terms of promotion and inadequate infrastructure were driving tutors out of the teaching profession.
“Before, we were getting promotion on merit but then it stopped. We were told that if you need to get a promotion, you have to go back to class, so I had to go back to class,” another tutor, Silvia Wanjiru, stated.
According to reports, teachers prefer jobs in the United States and the United Kingdom, where there is currently a shortage of more than 400,000.
The departures occurred as the government’s plan to hire 46,000 Junior Secondary School interns on a permanent and pensionable basis was put on hold.
President William Ruto announced on Wednesday that his administration will begin budget cuts after shelving the entire Finance Bill, 2024.
The hiring process for teachers is one of the sectors affected.
The government announced in February of this year that it was working on a plan to export teachers to foreign countries, despite the fact that the country’s unemployment rate is rising.
At the time, the State Department for Diaspora Affairs noted that the Kenyan workforce was in high demand abroad, particularly Kenyan teachers.
Around the same time, TSC imposed new requirements for teachers seeking promotion in primary and secondary schools.
The government announced, through the Teachers Service Commission (Amendment) Bill of 2024, that all tutors will be required to sit for a practising certificate as part of the continuous professional development programmes.
The bill sought to amend the Teachers Service Commission Act of 2012.
Kenyan Teachers Flock UK, US Escaping TSC Burden
