Members of Parliament have criticised the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for failing to translate its recruitment policies into fair and equitable employment practices, highlighting deep disparities that continue to affect teachers and students nationwide.
During a session with the National Assembly Committee on Education on Wednesday, TSC officials defended their hiring system, insisting it is guided by merit, fairness, inclusivity, and transparency. They said recruitment starts with identifying vacancies caused by teacher exits or shortages.
These positions are then allocated proportionally to counties and sub-counties, advertised publicly, and applicants invited for online submission. Document verification occurs at sub-county offices before decentralised interviews are conducted at school or county level.
The commission said it applies a uniform scoring guide, prioritises hard-to-staff and marginalised areas, and reserves five percent of roles for persons with disabilities.
“The uniform scoring guide is applied across the country, and vacancies are allocated according to student population and subject needs, with special attention to STEM, technical, arts, and special needs education,” TSC officials told MPs.
However, lawmakers argued that the system on paper does not match the reality. They cited cases of graduates who finished training over ten years ago but remain unemployed, while others who trained recently have already joined classrooms.
Homa Bay Woman Representative Joyce Bensouda said, “Many of them have approached 45 years, and the cut-off is 45 years, yet they are still waiting for employment. It is not fair that people who graduated 15 years ago have not been recruited, while recent graduates are already in classrooms.”
Makueni MP Suzanne Kiamba called on TSC and the Ministry of Education to act decisively.
“I have 10 women in my constituency, aged 48, and they are trained teachers, hold TSC numbers, and have applied repeatedly without success. These are mothers who went for training. They have 15 years of strength left, but they have never been employed. That is a waste of this country’s investment in their training,” she said.
Lawmakers also pointed to uneven teacher distribution across the country. Some counties are adequately staffed while others face severe shortages, forcing parents and school Boards of Management to hire additional teachers from their own funds.
Aldai MP Marianne Kitany noted, “In some schools, you will find 300 learners but only one TSC teacher, while parents are paying four others. These parents are taxpayers too. That is marginalisation.”
The MPs urged TSC to provide detailed constituency-level data showing the number of teachers, their TSC registration, postings, and student population in each school to ensure transparency and accountability.
