Time flies with great content! Renew in to keep enjoying all our premium content.
Prime
TSC on the spot as five tribes dominate hiring of junior school tutors
A Junior Secondary School Teacher Zaituni Chepkrui (left) engages a grade class in a Social Studies lesson at the school located in Bomet Central Constituency on September 22, 2023.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is on the spot after it emerged that five ethnic communities—Kalenjin, Luhya, Kamba, Kikuyu and Luo—secured more than two-thirds of all newly recruited junior secondary school (JSS) teaching jobs, raising questions over ethnic balance in the appointments.
The revelations emerged before the Senate Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration, where the TSC defended itself, citing the availability of qualified applicants per region and subject area as the driving factor.
The figures suggest 67 percent of the 68,313 JSS teachers hired under the Kenya Kwanza regime went to individuals from the five communities alone with the Kalenjin taking the lion’s share at 15.7 percent (10,769), despite accounting for 13.4 percent of Kenya’s population.
The TSC data shows the Luhya come in second at 15.3 percent (10,466), the Kamba community at 13.9 percent (or 9,557), followed by Kikuyus at 12.8 percent (8,799) and the Luo at 12.7 percent (8,721).
According to the diversity policy for State ministries, departments, and agencies issued by the Public Service Commission in December 2015, an ethnic group is deemed over-represented if its share of public service jobs exceeds its population proportion.
Besides the Kalenjin, other ethnic groups over-represented in the JSS recruitment are Luhya, Kamba and Luo, whose corresponding national population proportion is 14.3 percent, 9.8 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively.
On the flip side a paltry five teachers were hired from the Ogaden community, seven from the Njemps and 10 from the Kenyan Asians.
“While the commission strives for ethnic balance, recruitment is ultimately determined by the availability of qualified applicants in each region and subject area,” the TSC said in its submission to Parliament.
These revelations come on the back of explosive claims that some MPs are charging as much as Sh200,000 to “facilitate” appointment letters, fanning fears of deep-rooted corruption and patronage in the education sector.
In April, the Kenya National Union of Teachers said it had gathered evidence that deals for dishing out of teacher appointment letters were taking place at community meetings and funerals, with the target being desperate graduates.
“We urge the TSC to preserve its independence and not bow to pressure in the discharge of its mandate,” the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers said in a statement on Thursday.
Of the 68,313 JSS teachers recruited, 9,000 were hired on permanent and pensionable terms in the financial year ending June 2023 and another 39,550 on similar terms in the current financial year.
The remaining 20,000 teachers were hired as interns in the current year and reported for duty on January 6, 2025.
“Out of these, 68,313 teachers have so far been recruited and deployed across the country, leaving a total of 237 vacancies unfilled due to lack of applicants,” the TSC says.
Unfilled vacancies
The TSC data shows unfilled vacancies comprise 56 permanent and pensionable vacancies in Mandera County and 181 intern vacancies—including 114 in Mandera, 34 in Marsabit, and 33 in Wajir.
The data reveals that fewer than two percent—just 1,114—of newly recruited junior secondary school teachers were aged 40 and above during the review period, raising fresh concerns about age bias in the teacher recruitment process.
Of these, only nine were between 56 and 59, 31 fell within the 51–55 age bracket, 204 were aged 46–50, while the majority—870—were between 40 and 45.
Earlier this week, the National Assembly Committee on Education raised concerns that the TSC is neglecting a significant pool of experienced and qualified teachers simply because they are over 45.
This is despite a 2019 Employment and Labour Relations Court ruling that found the age restriction discriminatory and a violation of the right to equal opportunity.
The committee chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly directed the TSC to submit data on all registered teachers aged over 40, in a move aimed at addressing persistent concerns of bias in the teacher recruitment process.
The Committee maintained that any teacher can be recruited up to and including two years to retirement because it is not their fault that they are not recruited beyond 45 years.
On the positive side though, the overall teacher recruitment in JS achieved gender inclusivity where the gender distribution was fairly balanced at 51.3 percent male and 48.7 percent female.
The TSC says a total of 423 teachers living with disabilities were recruited, based on merit and availability of qualified applicants.
