New rules for hiring 16,000 intern teachers

By Sam Otieno

Many unemployed trained teachers hopeful of securing jobs as interns could be locked out in the recruitment of more than 16,000 staff following stringent conditions set by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

The teachers’ employer has outlined the teaching subject combinations that applicants must meet to be considered and hired for the internship programme.

The panels given the responsibility of interviewing the interns have been told to observe professionalism and integrity.

According to the guidelines that TSC has finalised and seen by The Standard, secondary school applicants should have at least two teaching subjects offered in the curriculum. Thus graduates with combinations that are not in the school curriculum such as botany/zoology, business studies/economics and Kiswahili/library science will not be employed.

"No consideration will be given to any recruitment that does not conform to the requirements of these guidelines," the guidelines say. The most affected science graduates are in horticulture, animal husbandry, and range and farm management.

The subjects are not in the school curriculum. Graduates of forestry, tourism, anthropology, sociology, theology, natural resources, environmental management, meteorology and textile engineering need not to apply.

"Institutions (schools and colleges) are instructed not to recruit any candidate whose subject combination has not been advertised," read the guidelines. For primary school applicants, subject specifications do not apply as the interns are expected to teach nearly all or any subjects. Also locked out in the recruitment are teachers 45 years old and above.

But there is respite for graduates of economics, commerce and accounting and they can apply to teach business studies.

BSc graduates can apply

Similarly, Bachelor of Science graduates in agricultural education and extension can apply for teaching vacancies in agriculture and biology. But university graduates with subject combinations taught in the school or college curriculum have no cause to worry.

The recruitment of 16,847 interns to teach in secondary and primary schools and colleges is the first of its kind in Kenya. Of these, 12,370 interns will be recruited in primary schools and paid Sh7,000 each a month. The 4,300 teachers to be recruited in secondary schools and 177 for technical institutions will be paid Sh13,000 a month.

Any applicant who is not ready to teach in a school or college for at least two years will be disqualified, the guidelines say. School boards will conduct the recruitment. "The selection panel will be required to exercise the highest degree of professionalism and transparency, as stipulated in the Public Officers Ethics Act," the guidelines say.

Announcing the completion of the guidelines, TSC Secretary and Chief Executive Gabriel Lengoiboni said earlier in the week that the recruitment drive will begin "any time". TSC is waiting for the Treasury to release Sh1.7 billion needed for the exercise.

"We are ready," Mr Lengoiboni said. "We are waiting for Treasury and ministry of education to release the money."

Teachers on the internship programme will be given priority when the TSC recruits teachers on permanent and pensionable terms. The interns would be required to take up the job within 30 days from the date they receive their appointment letters. The selection panel for secondary school teachers will consist of the board of governors chairman, head of institution and the deputy, subject teachers, preferably head of subject, three members of the board, one of whom must be an educationist and one representative from Parents

Teachers Association. District Education Officers (DEO) representatives will also sit in the panel. The DEO will chair panels in schools that do not have legally constituted boards. Also to be included in such cases is the district chair of the secondary school heads association. For primary schools, the panel will be chaired by District Staffing Officer.

Members will include the DEO or Municipal Education Officer, District Quality Assurance and Standards Officer, district human resources officer and a representative of primary school heads association. Other members Other members of the panel will include two education officers, and two members of the District Education Board.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers is opposed to the hiring of intern teachers, but the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association has welcomed it. However, the association wants the TSC to drop the term ‘intern’.

Association chairman Cleophas Tirop said: "These are qualified teachers and we should not call them interns, but teachers employed on boards of governors terms."

Education Minister Sam Ongeri has said that heads of institutions and TSC agents would provide professional guidance to the interns and give reports of their competency and aptitude.

"The Quality Assurance and Standards Officers will from time to time monitor and conduct follow-ups on interns’ pedagogical skills, with a view to upgrading their skills," said Prof Ongeri.