Turkana County has the highest shortage of primary school teachers in the country.

According to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the county requires 1,762 teachers to attain its 100 per cent of 3,426.

Turkana has only 1,664 teachers, representing a shortage of 51.4 per cent.

Primary schools staffing details presented to Parliament yesterday by TSC show that Mandera follows with a shortage of 48.6 per cent. The North Eastern county has 1,191 teachers and requires 1,125 more.

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Appearing before the Parliamentary Education Committee, TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia (pictured) said the country has 211,046 primary school teachers out of 259,219 required. A total of 48,173 more teachers are needed to bridge the national shortage.

“The Commission uses curriculum-based establishment to staff schools.
Current staffing norm at primary school level is one teacher per class plus 2.5 per cent of the total number of classes,” said Macharia.

She said the percentage shortage compares the individual county teacher shortage with its requirement with the total shortage standing 18.6 per cent.

According to the records, Garissa, West Pokot, Wajir, Narok and Kwale are the other counties that have huge deficits of teachers. Garissa’s shortage stands at 45.5 per cent. The county needs 687 and has 824 teachers.

West Pokot requires 2,489 teachers representing 44 per cent, Wajir needs 847, Narok requires 2,272 while Kwale needs 1,571. The percentages for shortages are Wajir (41.1 per cent), Narok (30 per cent) and Kwale (30 per cent).

Kakamega, Kitui, Bungoma and Nakuru have the largest share of teachers, with the four counties being home to close to 50,000 tutors. Kakamega has the highest number at 13,846, followed by Kitui with 12m717, Bungoma with 11m396 and Nakuru with 10,316.

Kakamega has a shortage of 3,544, Kitui 2,974, Bungoma 2,813 and Naukuru 1,277.

Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Uasin Gishu, Nyeri, Nyandarua, Murang’a, Meru, Laikipia, Isiolo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Embu and Nairobi have the least shortage of teachers. The 12 counties have teacher shortages of less than 10 per cent.

Out of 2,507, Kirinyaga requires 30 teachers representing 1.2 per cent. Uasin Gishu has 5,125 and needs 422. Kiambu requires 368, Nyeri 321, Nyandarua 329, Murang’a 423, Meru 705, Laikipia 241, Isiolo 78, Elgeyo Marakwet 347, Embu 367 and Nairobi 407.

Vihiga, Trans Nzoia, Taita Taveta, Siaya, Nyamira, Nandi, Mombasa, Migori, Makueni, Machakos, Lamu, Kisumu, Kisii, Kericho and Baringo all have shortages ranging from 10 to 20 per cent.

Macharia said there are 26,813 teachers in the country employed by the boards of management (BOMs).

Bomet and Bungoma have the highest number of BOM teachers with 2,130 and 2,028 respectively.