Ogamba: 343,485 tutors not hired, no salary increment for JSS heads

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has said 343,485 registered teachers are not employed by the government.

Ogamba on Wednesday told the Senate that recruitment by the Teachers Service Commission is premised on, among other factors, the availability of funds and existence of vacancies.

“The Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission annually submit budgetary proposals and policy recommendations to the National Assembly Education Committee advocating for adequate funding and legislative support to facilitate the recruitment of teachers,” he said.

The CS said the internship programme aims to develop competence with clear linkages between education, training, and practical work and that since inception in 2019, the commission has engaged 94,300 teacher interns.

Ogamba also ruled out the possibility of primary school headteachers getting enhanced pay due to their expanded responsibilities under the Competency-Based Curriculum, which includes overseeing junior secondary schools.

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He said their terms would remain guided by the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement that TSC signed with teacher unions.

Asked to explain what the ministry was doing to ensure equitable access to free and quality education for children in marginalised and other underserved areas, the CS cited school feeding programme, which he said would be expanded.

Ogamba said the government has adopted low-cost boarding schools plan in areas where situations inhibit school attendance, retention, completion such as arid and semi-arid lands.

“These are learners who, due to various circumstances, including retrogressive cultural practices like female genital mutilation, forced early marriages and nomadic lifestyles are unable to attend to classes regularly and consistently,” he said.

The CS also said the government was working towards integrating clean cooking solutions in schools as part of efforts to promote environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly practices.

The legislators also sought to know whether the national and county governments collaborate to align the curriculum and training in the county-managed vocational training centres with the standards in the national institutions.

Ogamba said the Technical, Vocational Education and Training Department works with the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee and  the Council of Governors to coordinate vocational training with collaboration in areas such as policy development, legislation, norms and standards and the implementation of devolved functions.

The CS said that there are 1,156 vocational training centres, with a total enrolment of 141,157 trainees across the country.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna sought to know what the Government has done to permanently address the root causes of the prolonged industrial action 

On the strike by lecturers at the Technical University of Kenya, which led to the closure of the institution between February and March, Ogamba explained that since the university was awarded a charter in 2013, it has been operating with funding shortfalls.

He said the institution gets monthly revenue of about Sh207 million, including Sh63.3 million in capitation, yet it requires Sh314 million.

“Because of the cash flow challenges, the university resorted to paying net salary to all staff and was unable to remit statutory deductions (pensions, PAYE and housing levy) and third party deductions (union dues, bank loans, SACCOs, welfares and insurance premiums) from the employees’ salaries,” said Ogamba.

He said the ministry and the university came up with a recovery plan.