The Teachers Service Commission has sounded the alarm over the severe shortage of science teachers across the country.

TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said most of those seeking teaching jobs in recent years are arts graduates.

“We are not saying they are not trained. Most graduates are for arts,” she said, adding that even post-training measures are yet to bear any fruit.

It emerged that even after the commission opened a portal for identifying teachers to undertake in-service training, most still opted for arts.

Macharia was responding to concerns by members of the National Assembly Education Committee on the readiness for Grade 9 and the status of the junior secretary school recruitment.

She also raised concerns about an imminent strike, citing zero budgets for medical insurance for teachers.

She said the commission has no money for medical cover for teachers and needs Sh11 billion to avert a looming crisis.

“We have just come from a strike situation...we don’t have money for medical insurance...we are lacking Sh11 billion. It will be very bad when teachers go on strike again,” Macharia added.

The issues emerged after lawmakers complained that non-qualified individuals were handling critical science and technology subjects.

The grand question by lawmakers was on what teachers’ employer has done to mitigate the shortage.

Issues of delayed promotions and replacements of retired teachers were also raised.

“The schools, especially JSS, are poorly staffed. The commission has gone against the rules of staffing. Some subjects have excess staff while others have no teachers,” Education committee chairperson Julius Melly said.

Macharia told the meeting more than 400,000 teachers are unemployed, even as she promised to provide data detailing the distribution at a later date.

“What stands out is that we have a problem of science teachers. With the data, we will tell what percentage are arts and what constitutes sciences. It is however an open fact that the majority are arts ... we will do analysis,” the CEO said.

Igembe North MP Julius Taitumu said there was the need to provide incentives for science teachers to encourage the uptake of the related courses.

It also emerged that primary school teachers who undertake university courses to advance their academic qualifications mostly opt for arts.

“We are aware of situations where art teachers are teaching science... they just read and reread back to students,” Kasipul Kabondo MP Eve Obara said.

Macharia, in response, said they were confident JSS teachers posted in schools had the requisite qualifications.

“I have never run away from the crisis of shortage of teachers ... We will recruit and do the redistribution in all counties,” she said.

The TSC boss further announced that at least 314,117 teachers applied for JSS slots against the 46,000 available spaces. She said the agency is in the process of receiving forms from the teachers.

Macharia added that the intern teachers have been given priority in the ongoing listing. Of the 314,117, at least 93,646 sought to be listed in primary schools, 144,177 for junior school and 76,294 for secondary schools.

This is against a requirement for 6,000 teachers for primary school, 39,950 for junior school and 450 for secondary schools.