The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is about to begin training newly hired junior secondary school teachers.
TSC stated that teacher training would begin in January and continue until April of this year.
TSC CEO Nancy Macharia, on the other hand, stated that the teachers who have previously taught on the junior secondary school curriculum will be used to retool the newly hired teachers.
“We target to train 90,000 teachers between January and April,” Macharia said.
TSC’s Director of Human Resource Management and Development, Julius Olayo, previously stated that retooling teachers is necessary to guarantee they meet expected standards in order to properly perform their duty.
TSC has trained 229,000 primary school teachers and 60,000 secondary school teachers on the competency-based curriculum, according to Olayo.
“In addition, all field officers and curriculum support officers have been trained on CBC to comprehend the curriculum and provide instructional assistance during curriculum implementation,” Olayo stated.
This came as the Commission announced that all 30,550 newly hired teachers had reported to their respective junior secondary schools for the first term.
In December 2022 mass recruitment advertisement, the Commission announced 9,000 teaching positions for junior secondary students on permanent and pensionable terms, as well as 21,550 internship positions.
As thousands of students transitioned from primary to junior secondary school over the last two weeks, public schools experienced a severe teacher shortage.
TSC CEO Nancy Macharia admitted that there was a shortage of teachers in junior secondary but was quick to add that the government was looking into the issue.
The Commission targets to train teachers on Languages, Pure Sciences, Applied Sciences, Mathematics, Humanities and Technical subjects.
The training of Grade 7 teachers will involve these subjects and areas offered in junior secondary school section.
Junior secondary comprises of Grade 7, 8 and 9. Below are compulsory and optional subjects offered in junior secondary.
COMPULSORY SUBJECTS
1. English
2. Kiswahili or Kenyan Sign Language for learners who are deaf
3. Mathematics
4. Integrated Science
5. Health Education
6. Pre-Technical and Pre-Career Education
7. Social Studies
8. Religious Education – learners choose one of the following:
a) Christian Religious Education
b) Islamic Religious Education
c) Hindu Religious Education
9. Business Studies
10. Agriculture
11. Life Skills Education
12. Sports and Physical Education
OPTIONAL SUBJECTS (Minimum 1, Maximum 2)
1. Visual Arts
2. Performing Arts
3. Home Science
4. Computer Science
5. Foreign Languages:
6. German
7. French
8. Mandarin
9. Arabic
10. Indigenous Languages
11. Kenyan Sign Language
NB: ICT will be a delivery tool for all Subjects
