Teacher Export: Implications for Kenya’s Realization of Its National Development Goals

The globe continues to grapple with teacher shortages. 2022 data from UNESCO shows regional demand for teachers as follows: East Asia at 21%; Europe and North America at 38%; Latin America and the Carribean at 45%; Southern Asia at 52%; Southeast Asia at 67%; North Africa and West Asia at 69%; and Sub-Saharan Africa at 178%.

These shortages have opened up teaching opportunities especially in countries with stronger economies like those in Europe and North America, specifically the United States. For instance, reports indicate that the United States currently faces a shortage of about 55,000 teachers with 86% of public schools struggling to hire teachers.

In step has been the mushrooming of teacher recruitment agencies to facilitate the hiring of teachers across the globe to fill up these vacancies. Kenya has not been an exception.

There have been recent reports of agencies recruiting teachers for US schools. Teachers from Kenya who hold Bachelor of Education degrees have a competitive edge because these qualifications already partially fulfil the requirements for the J1 visa for teachers.

Thus, when hired they do not need to pursue a degree course. While individuals are free to seek opportunities outside the country, especially if they meet the qualifications, there is need to pause and reflect on the unintended consequences of these developments.

According to Kenya’s Vision 2030, the country is pushing to become a newly industrializing, middle-income country by the year 2030. Therefore, what measures are in place to ensure that this vision becomes a reality? Teachers play a crucial role in the realization of a country’s development because they prepare the citizenry with the requisite knowledge and skills for the various sectors of the economy.

Both personal and national resources go into preparing a teacher in Kenya. Individuals take up loans or use personal savings to invest in their teacher preparation. Similarly, the government, whether directly (public university) or indirectly (private university), spends its resources to prepare a teaching workforce for its education system.

There is an expectation, both at the individual and national level, that this investment will pay off in the form of a stable and strong education system. However, teacher export to other countries threatens this expectation. On one hand, it could be argued that such opportunities have the potential to reward the individuals who pursue them, but on the other hand, what does it mean for the government?

Threats of teachers export to Kenya

Potentially, this is a loss of a critical national resource, with the government not being able to directly realize its return on investment.

Currently, Kenyan schools are facing teacher shortages with the Teachers’ Service Commission’s 2021 Annual Report indicating a shortage of about 99,000.

This situation is more acute in rural, arid and semi-arid and emergency and conflict-affected areas. In addition, there have been challenges with employing junior secondary school (JSS) teachers.

Continued teacher export threatens effective implementation of Kenya’s Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). As a new education system, CBC needs as much stability as possible to see it grow steadily and firmly.

CBC is a resource-heavy curriculum both in terms of teaching resources and teachers. The Teachers’ Service Commission in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, and other agencies have invested resources in the training of teachers for the CBC curriculum.

Therefore, mass exodus of teachers outside the country threatens the effective implementation of CBC, especially at these crucial initial stages.

Also Read: Teachers Issue New Strike Threat

But why are teachers attracted to these opportunities abroad? Some of the reasons include better pay and terms of service, a more equitable and predictable career advancement process, availability of resources for learners with special needs, and smaller class sizes.

While workforce mobility is not a new phenomenon, it can be argued to be a form of brain drain if not carefully managed. Teachers fall into the category of high-skilled workforce.

It is unfortunate for the government to invest in its workforce, only for them to relocate and invest their talents and expertise elsewhere. It is notable that the receiving countries are gaining a workforce that is already trained.

Thus, additional capacity building costs for such personnel are often lower compared to preparing a teacher from scratch. Some would argue that there could be tangible benefits from having Kenyan workforce overseas, especially through remittances.

However, it would be interesting to determine the cost-benefit analysis for the country in terms of cost of preparing a teacher and potential future earnings and contribution to the national economy versus remittances from a teacher working abroad and contributing to its local economy.

What can be done to stop teachers exodus

So, what are some immediate actions to mitigate the challenges arising from teacher export? For a start, the teacher unions have to continue to push for improved terms of service for teachers.

Also Read: Govt Sends First Batch of Kenyan Teachers to America

In addition, Kenya can have a long-term strategy of training more teachers with the aim of exporting this workforce to countries that have interest. Philippines and Bangladesh have done the same with their nurses.

However, care should be taken to ensure that internally the wages of the trained teachers are not low therefore leading to unintended consequences of a mass exodus.

The wages should be such that the choice to stay is relatively as attractive as the choice to emigrate. The agreements signed between Kenya and the receiving countries should be those that allow remittances in such a way that there is a safety net for the teachers upon returning home.

Teachers should be able to retire comfortably away or when they come back home. Given that they are giving of their expertise in the receiving country and getting paid for it, it is also appropriate that they get an opportunity to invest into their future. It would be sad to see teachers who opt to return home, unable to take care of themselves and end up being a burden to the government.

These agreements should also make it easier for the teachers to re-enter the Kenya labor market and continue to make valuable contributions to Kenya’s education system, especially from their global experiences.  Only then can the can labor mobility make sense.

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