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Kenya: Cash Hampers Teachers' Hiring
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The Nation (Nairobi)
19 May 2008
Posted to the web 19 May 2008
Maurice K'aluoch And John Shilitsa
Nairobi
The Government will hire more teachers this year to address shortages in schools, according to the Teachers Service Commission.
Mr Gabriel Lengoiboni, the commission's secretary, said 45,000 primary and 13,000 secondary school teachers needed to be hired to ease a serious shortage.
Saying, regular recruitment had been hampered by lack of funds, he urged Parliament to allocate more money for teachers' employment.
"We at TSC are always ready to recruit teachers because there are lots of trained but unemployed ones. Our only problem is resources," he said.
He said the country had highly trained teachers whose skills were in demand in Rwanda, Southern Sudan and Thailand.
Mr Lengoiboni was addressing a gathering at Ndhiwa Central Square in Homa Bay District at a thanksgiving party for assistant minister Orwa Ojodeh.
Meanwhile, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (Kuppet) has urged the Government to allow secondary school heads to levy parents for funds to run their schools.
The union's national chairman, Mr Zodock Kisienya, said that schools may be forced to close down because the Government was yet to release funds for the subsidised education programme in secondary schools for the second term.
Mr Kisienya said some co-curricula activities had to be cancelled due to lack of funds, and unless headteachers were allowed to levy parents, it would be difficult for any meaningful learning to take place.
He said that parents had willingly paid levies before the Government promised to foot the bill for the students' fees.
"But the Government is taking too long to act at the expense of our children's education," he said.
Union's concerns
The union's concerns come amid complaints from parents in Mumias District over a decision by headteachers to send students home due to lack of funds to run schools.
Parents who spoke to the Nation accused the Government of gambling with the education of their children.
"We thought it was a good thing to be relieved of that burden, but things have turned out for the worse," Mr Wilson Karani, a parent, said.
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Mr Karani said he had not saved any money for school fees because of the Government's pledge to meet that obligation.
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