The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has set aside Sh2.2 billion which will be used for recruitment and promotion of teachers in different job groups.
TSC chief executive officer Nancy Macharia said the commission will promote about 15,000 primary school teachers by the end of the month.
Ms Macharia who was speaking in Mombasa on Wednesday, during the 12th annual Kenya Primary Schools Headteachers Association conference, said that an additional 5,000 teachers will be recruited to bridge the existing gap in the student-teacher ratio.
She said that the commission is committed to promoting teachers of different job groups to improve service delivery and motivating the teachers.
“In the next two months we will advertise 6,000 posts in job group M and 4,000 positions in job group N. A significant number of these positions will be set aside for teachers in primary schools and especially headteachers,” said Macharia.
She said the commission will consider the performance contracts of teachers before promoting them, adding that 5,500 teachers will receive promotion in the next one month.
Ms Macharia noted that there is still a shortage of teachers as primary schools have a deficit of 40,000 teachers while post primary institutions lack 48,000 teachers.
“We will continue to lobby for more funds to promote as many teachers as possible, in line with the various schemes of service applicable in the teaching service,” said Ms Macharia.
She, however, said that the government has been employing 5,000 teachers every year to ease the growing demand and bridge existing gaps.