For secondary schools, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) intends to create a data bank of interviewed teachers to make it easier to replace those who leave the service during the 2022–2023 fiscal year.
The Commission listed approximately 219,311 unemployed secondary school teachers in mid-July 2022. These teachers had applied for only 4, 000 new secondary school openings, and only five candidates (teachers) were shortlisted for each opening.
The Board of Management would be expected to create a vacancy-specific merit list from the list of five candidates who were shortlisted and interviewed for each opening at every secondary school in the nation.
The merit list shall be used in TSC subsequent and similar recruitment in the County, as per the recruitment guidelines for post-primary teachers on permanent and pensionable terms published under Circular No. 9/2022 dated June 30, 2022 by the Commission’s Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Nancy Macharia.
“The Merit List shall be used in the subsequent recruitment processes involving a similar vacancy in the County within the financial year or as directed by the Commission from time to time,” said Dr. Macharia in the Circular.
As a result, candidates in the data bank will be given preference in any upcoming hiring throughout the 2022–2023 fiscal year, which runs from July 2022 to June 2023.
TSC won’t have to undergo a new hiring process, as was the case previously, and the decision will drastically reduce the costs associated with the recruitment process.
When the Commission replaces instructors who leave the service due to natural attrition, teachers who were shortlisted and who attended the recently completed interviews will be given priority.
Following the creation of the vacancy-specific merit list, the school selection panels are required to submit the list to the TSC Sub-County Directors. These directors will then submit the list to the County Directors for compilation of the subject-specific merit list, creating a databank for the County that will be used to fill subject-specific vacancies in follow-up recruitment processes during the FY that arise within the County.
“During the interview, the school selection panel shall develop a vacancy – specific Merit List. The Merit List shall be used in the subsequent recruitment processes involving a similar vacancy in the County within the financial year or as directed by the Commission from time to time,” instructed Dr. Macharia.
The five candidates who were shortlisted for each advertised position and whose names are on the School Selection Panel’s vacancy-specific merit list, which is utilized to create subject-specific merit list data banks, are taken from applicant lists created by the TSC system.
The Regional Director will create the Regional subject specific merit lists and submit them to the TSC Director Staffing at the Headquarters when the TSC County Director has forwarded the subject-specific merit list to him or her.
This data bank of interviewed candidates shall be used to replace those exiting service within the Financial Year. The subject specific data bank shall be used to fill vacancies arising from the County, Region and nationally within the Financial Year,” said Dr. Macharia in the Circular.
The Commission adds that vacancies must be filled from the Subject Specific National data bank when candidates are exhausted within a region and from the Subject Specific County data bank when candidates are exhausted within a region.
“Where candidates are exhausted from the subject specific County data bank, replacement shall be done using the Regional data bank. Where candidates are exhausted within a region, vacancies shall be filled using the Subject Specific National data bank,” said Dr. Macharia in the Circular.
She adds: “The subject specific data bank shall be used to fill vacancies arising from the County, Region and nationally within the Financial Year.”
A total of 8,230 positions were also available to fill teachers who left the service due to natural attrition, and they were located in both primary schools (6,539) and post-primary institutions. The Commission advertised a total of 14, 000 new positions for this FY, including 1,000 in primary schools and 4, 000 in secondary schools (1,691).
According to TSC, 42,795 new instructors were enrolled over the entire 2020–2021 Financial Year.
