The Government of Kenya is planning to export teachers to foreign countries for jobs, Education Cabinet Secretary Migos Ogamba has revealed.
Appearing before the Senate on Wednesday, the Cabinet Secretary revealed that the country has over 400,000 unemployed teachers who are very qualified and have no jobs, which is very unfair to them.
According to Ogamba, some of these teachers have been jobless for more than 10 years so the government will be exploring new strategies to curb this situation. One of the strategies the government is looking to explore is exporting these skills to foreign nations to curb the unemployment issue.
“It is no secret that we have over 400,000 trained teachers that do not have jobs. Even these 20,000 (vacancies) do not do any justice to this number. This limitation is due to financial resources and lack of budget,” he told the Senate.
“The strategy that we have is we are trying to see whether we can have these teachers also go to teach in other countries.” CS Ogamba said.
The CS noted that the country is looking to ensure that Kenya is listed as a native English-speaking country, a major requirement that will allow Kenyan teachers to teach abroad.
“We are trying to ensure that Kenya is listed as a native English-speaking country because that is a basis of sending teachers outside the country to work,” Ogamba assured.
The Cabinet Secretary assured the Senate that if this proposal is approved, the country will be able to curb the high number of unemployed teachers in the nation.
Ogamba further indicated that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) commenced the process of transitioning 46,000 intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms in September 2024 and assured that the process will be completed in December 2024 and the candidates will be confirmed in January.
Ogamba’s revelation comes after President William Ruto revealed that the government was looking to employ more teachers to curb unemployment and ensure that every student in Kenya has access to quality education.
“We must give the best opportunity we have to our children and that is why in January we will be hiring another 20,000 teachers.”
