The government is committed to ensure teacher student ratio is realistic and attainable by employing 20,000 more teachers who will address the acute shortage being witnessed in the country.
Speaking at Kolanya girl’s national school, education CS Ezekiel Machogu noted that already the Kenya Kwanza administration has employed over 50,000 teachers within its first year in office.
“Since independence, the government made a record recruitment of 56,750 teachers to help manage the acute shortage of teachers being witnessed in the country,” CS Machogu noted.
The CS took the opportunity to urge students across the country to embrace TVET institutions to equip themselves with relevant skills for the job market within and outside the country.
“The government has made sure all constituencies have a TVET institution to ensure that we have a young generation with skills for the market both locally and overseas,” CS Machogu said.
“Already the government has released Sh23 billion for capitation to public secondary schools ending the prolonged financial crisis, which threatened to disrupt operations at the institutions,” he added.
The CS who also affirmed the government’s commitment on improving school infrastructures gifted Kolanya Girls and St Pauls Amukura Sh10 million cheque each to improve their infrastructure to meet the standards to accommodate the population in the two schools.
Machogu also called on parents to take advantage of various TVET institutions to equip their children with relevant skills for the job market.
“The whole world is now rerouting to technical courses and that is why we have laid emphasis on TVET training to accommodate the dream of CBC as well as attaining the vision 2030,” CS noted.
His sentiment comes amidst an outcry by Member of Parliament of Teso south Mary Emase, urging the government to promote teachers as a motivating factor to boost overall performance in schools.
“We have teachers with doctorate but yet they are still in primary school, it’s time the ministry relooks into the matter and implement the recommendation by the task force on teacher’s promotion,” said Emase.
The legislator urged the Iteso community to work with the government to avoid being sidelined in allocation of government projects.
The school principal Dr Tabitha Okama noted that as a national school already they were worst hit by the shortage with only 40 TSC employed teachers against a target of over 65 teachers in line with ministry of Education guidelines.
“As a school we are already overstretched with merger resources that we have owing to the fact that the school is a national school with only 40 TSC teachers forcing us to employ over 20 other teachers under BOM agreement to be in tandem with teacher student ratio,” Dr Okama said.
Teso north sub county was recognised as the most improved sub county in the country with Kolanya girls emerging as the best school in the sub county.
By Absalom Namwalo
