Teachers graduate with a lot of hopes and expectations concerning the world of employment. By the time they are graduating, they have always planned on how they will make fortunes once employed by the Teachers Service Commission.
Little do they know that things are totally different on the ground. Some get deeply disappointed after toiling in board for several years, with no permanent employment in sight, yet their papers are very clean and have not even a single supplementary.
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Members of their cohorts who chose their subject combinations wisely get employed faster and start running their personal errands while for most of them, everything seems to be on a stand still.
What brings the difference between getting absorbed by the teachers’ service commission within one year and getting absorbed after five years is majorly the subject combination. Some teachers choose combinations whose employability rates are just too low.
If planning to pursue an education course, please avoid the following subjects if necessary. You should only go for these combinations if they are the only options in your KCSE certificate. If you have other options, please exploit them so that you grab an employment opportunity within a very short time.
1. Kiswahili and CRE Combination
Graduates of this teaching combination spend so many years seeking employment. Kiswahili, being a compulsory subject, is done at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education by all students.
Although Christian religious education is an optional subject, most students opt to proceed with it to KCSE because they feel it is friendly. Most students therefore proceed with them to colleges. This makes the market overcrowded with applicants, against very few slots given by the teachers’ service commission.
Competition results and those who graduated four or five years earlier get advantaged. Even getting this chance on board is not that easy.
2. History / Government and CRE Combination
The combination comprises of subjects that are a darling to the students. Students will always strive to excel in their strengths, and that is why most of them perform averagely in both subjects at KCSE.
Universities and colleges release very many graduates of this combination every year, making the market very competitive.
3. Kiswahili and History / Government Combination
Graduates with this combination are very unlucky when it comes to TSC employment. Much has been said about the two subjects and now the decision lies with the teacher.
4. Geography and Mathematics combination
Even though geography is a hotcake, its combination with mathematics is not so advantageous to the teacher. The reason is because mathematics, being a compulsory subject, has a higher number of registered candidates, making the competition stiffer, among those who take it as a teaching subject.
The fact that fewer slots are advertised also leaves the teachers with limited options.
5. French /……………. Combination
French anything is a good combination since it polishes an extra language in a teacher. However, in terms of employability in the teaching field, it is not good. Very few schools do French, and the slots advertised are always fewer, if not none.
The most possible French partners are languages and humanities, which are also flooded. The good news is that French can be treated independently during employment.
6. Mathematics and Business studies Combination
This is another combination whose graduates used to spend longer before getting employed on permanent and pensionable terms.
However, they may take shorter from this year in case the intern teachers are confirmed by TSC. Business and mathematics slots were very many in the recently concluded recruitment of intern teachers.
This implies that most of the teachers were employed, leaving the most recent graduates with so much monopoly in case their competitors are not in the race.
