Crisis in education: Shock of 3,000 institutions without principals

Kenyans are now faced with the shocking revelation that more than 3,000 public schools in the country are running without head teachers. There are no principals or head teachers in 1,441 secondary schools and 1,918 public elementary schools.
New statistics have also exposed the teacher distribution in the country, with numbers of the counties with the greatest teacher shortages now out in the public domain. 
At a time when the government is implementing crucial reforms in the education sector, a total of 3,359 public primary and secondary schools lack the key institutional leadership.
Additionally, it has been discovered that Kakamega County has the nation’s worst teacher shortfall in all of its secondary schools. There are 421 secondary schools in the county, leaving a 4,283 teacher shortage. There are only 5,716 teachers in the county that is expected to have 9,999.
Elsewhere, Kisumu County, with its 608 institutions, has the largest shortage of primary school teachers, totaling 4,317. Only 6,230 of the 10,547 teachers that the county’s elementary schools are expected to have are actually employed there.
These are a few of the observations made by the PWPER, or Presidential Working Taskforce on Education Reforms.
Scarcity of teachers
A total of 42,522 instructors are listed as working in public primary institutions’ nursery schools in the draft task force report. There are 28,818 elementary schools in the nation that are home to these nursery teachers.
With 13,589 teachers spread among 10,654 primary schools, the Rift Valley region has the most nursery school instructors. With 3,417, the Coast region has the fewest childcare schools.
As many schools lack principals, the research highlighted the leadership issue in primary and secondary education. Kakamega, Kitui, and Kisii schools have the most schools without headteachers.
Out of the 895 schools in Kakamega, 121 primary schools don’t have a permanent headteacher, according to The Standard’s review of the task force statistics.
There are 112 headteachers missing from Kitui, 110 from Kisii, 88 from Nakuru, 86 from Makueni, 81 from Bungoma, 77 from Nandi, and 69 from Nyamira and Muranga institutions combined.
The research reveals that Samburu, Garissa, Isiolo, and Narok have the fewest schools that are experiencing leadership issues. Only three schools out of 195 in Garissa don’t have a full-time principal. Only five of the 112 primary schools in Isiolo, seven of the 711 primary schools in Narok, and seven of the schools in Samburu are missing a substabtive head.
Out of the 452 secondary schools, Kitui County has the greatest percentage of secondary schools without a reliable principal, with 68 schools.
In Nakuru, 56 of the 373 secondary schools lack a principal, while in Homa Bay county, 57 of the 333 secondary schools lack a principal.
Bomet (55), Kakamega (53), West Pokot (53), Meru (51) and Migori (50) are other counties at the top of the list of secondary schools without heads.
Irregularities
Data from the task force’s draft report also reveals that there are more head teachers working in primary schools than there are schools in three counties, namely Baringo, Marsabit, and West Pokot.
There are 849 head teachers in Baringo County, which has 722 primary schools. There are 195 head teachers in Marsabit County, which contains 180 elementary schools. West Pokot, on the other hand, has 670 head teachers and 654 elementary schools.
The chief executive of the Teachers Service Commission, Nancy Macharia, stated previously in parliament that some tutors have earned the credentials of head teachers but continue to work as classroom teachers.
Although primary schools enroll the majority of students, secondary schools are the ones with the worst teacher shortages. According to the data, there are 223,296 primary school teachers, but the schools could need up to 267,792 more, leaving a 44,496-teacher gap.
Additionally, there are about 9,246 secondary schools in the nation with 123,985 instructors overall, despite the fact that they require 182,566. This translates into a deficit of 58,581 for the institutions.
More specific information reveals that Bungoma County has the second largest teacher shortage in secondary schools, behind Kakamega County. With 370 secondary schools, Bungoma has a 3,529 teacher shortage.
Deficits
With 373 secondary schools, Nakuru County has a 2,875 teacher shortage. It is followed by Homa Bay County, which has 333 secondary schools but 2,570 fewer teachers overall.
The top five secondary schools with a lack of staff in Bomet County are closed. There are 2,368 secondary schools in the county, which suffers a teacher shortage.
Other counties with significant teacher shortages in primary education include Kilifi, which needs 3,344 tutors to staff its 543 schools. According to the survey, Narok County, which has 711 primary schools, needs 2,954 more teachers. With 895 elementary schools, Kakamega County will need 2,922 tutors to make up the difference.
The top five counties with the worst deficit of elementary school teachers are all closed by Kitui. There are 1,382 primary schools in the county, and 2,911 more teachers are needed.
In total, 58,581 instructors must be posted in high schools to serve the nation’s 9,246 secondary schools. The total teacher shortage, according to the report, is 44,496 throughout the 23,274 primary schools.
The overall teacher shortage in public primary and secondary schools now stands at 103,077. But this is less than what TSC revealed last week when it unveiled its strategic plan.
According to TSC’s data, there are 111,870 teachers needed. As part of its five year strategic plan, the teacher’s employer asked for an additional KSh78 billion to hire more teachers over the following five years.
TSC will need KSh134 billion in total to carry out the launched strategic plan.
Macharia acknowledged the situation in education and stated that the lack of instructors has influenced the substance of the 2023–2027 Strategic Plan, which places a strong emphasis on the welfare of teachers.
High number of learners
The lack of teachers has been brought on by an increase in students enrolled in basic education, the 100% transition, and free day secondary school, claims the draft task force report. They contend that by introducing new areas of study, the Competency-Based Curriculum has made matters worse.
To alleviate a teacher shortfall in schools, TSC has already hired 20,000 new instructors. According to TSC, 18,000 of these intern teachers will be employed and assigned to junior secondary schools (JSS).
To assist with the implementation of the new curricula, an additional 2,000 intern teachers will be placed in elementary schools. Applications for the positions will expire on July 18, according to Macharia.
The task force’s draft report also reveals that six counties have more elementary school teachers than they require. These include Embu (74), Kericho (54), Kirinyaga (255), and Murang’a (2). Baringo has 411 more teachers than it needs.
The TSC is working to balance the numbers by relocating teachers from overstaffed areas to schools with teacher shortages, according to the reforms team.