The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has confirmed a shortage of teachers for technical and creative subjects in senior schools and outlined steps to address the gap.
The affected subjects include metal work, art, electricity, sport science, and creative arts.
Speaking during an engagement with the leadership and administrative heads of all secondary schools, chaired by the Head of Public Service, Felix Koskei, on Wednesday, March 11, TSC Acting Secretary Evaleen Mitei acknowledged the shortage, stating that the commission is working closely with the Kenya Schools for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) to address the challenge.
“Yes, indeed there are staff shortages in the new areas of the curriculum, including metal work, art, electricity, sport science, and creative arts. What we are doing to address this is working with Kenya Schools for TVET to identify teachers who are qualified in technical subjects, so that we can absorb and employ them in secondary schools,” Mitei said.
“That conversation is ongoing, and in the next advert, we will be able to recruit teachers for these new areas.”
TSC to Employ Teachers from TVET for Technical Subjects in Senior Schools
The announcement comes after school principals across the country raised concerns over a serious staffing shortage as the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system is implemented in senior schools.
The Chairperson of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA), Willie Kimani, highlighted the shortage of teachers for new subjects introduced under the CBE curriculum, which has led to understaffing.
“With the Competency-Based Education (CBE), we need qualified staff who will be able to handle new subjects in our schools such as electricity, aviation, marine technology, and building and construction. All these subjects have come up because of CBE, but we do not have the staff,” Kimani said.
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Staffing Shortage in Senior Schools
He added that schools urgently need trained personnel to effectively teach these new subjects, but such professionals are scarce in the education sector.
“This is stretching schools because principals are forced to look for teachers using Board of Management (BOM) funds, yet the trained personnel are not available in the field,” Kimani explained.
He further noted that Universities have also not produced enough graduates trained to teach emerging subject areas.
Earlier reports indicated that Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) faced a shortfall of over 72,000 teachers, while the Senior School rollout in 2026 required an additional 58,590 teachers.
According to TSC Director of Quality Assurance Reuben Nthamburi, the demand was driven by the new senior school pathways under the CBE system.
The shortage is particularly severe in specialized subjects, including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), pre-technical studies, and vocational fields.
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Nthamburi said universities and teacher training institutions must urgently align their programmes with market needs, particularly in the Arts and Sports pathway, which faces severe shortages of specialists in music and dance, fine arts, theatre and film, sports, and creative arts.
“In STEM, we need teachers in areas like general sciences, computer studies, aviation, electricity, media technology, building and construction, woodwork, and marine and fisheries. For Social Sciences, we’re short on teachers in indigenous languages, Sign language, Arabic, French, German, and Mandarin,” he added.
