Ababu: Pastures for Graduate Teachers in Baku

Foreign Affairs CAS Hon Ababu Namwamba in a bipartite with his Arzebijan counterpart in Baku. [Photo: APT]

The Teachers Service Commission 2019 – 2023 Strategic Plan indicates that 317,010 registered teachers are unemployed. The commission currently has a teacher shortage of 96,345 teachers which is estimated to rise to 118,000 by 2023.

The figures mean that even if TSC would employ all trained and registered teachers to fill the shortfall, over 199,010 teachers will still remain unemployed, with the numbers steadily beefed up by the rising number of graduates.

3 years after anti-cheating measures were adopted by the ministry of education, under the then Education CS Fred Matiangi, enrolment in post secondary institutions has declined. This has had a ripple effect on the education sector, with polytechnics, TVETs closing down or cutting down their campuses due to low enrollment rates. This has also led to retrenchment of staff, adding up on the numbers of unemployed educationists.

To address the worrying trend, Ministry of Foreign Affairs CAS Hon Ababu Namwamba knocked doors of his Azerbaijan counterpart Amb. Ramiz Hasanov whom he engaged on bilateral talks especially educational exchange programs and continued lobbying for the non-permanent position of the United Nations Security Council for which Kenya has been endorsed by the African Union as the sole continental candidate.

Speaking to the press after the bipartite, Hon. Namwamba confirmed that he had discussed the possibility of Kenyan teachers going to teach Swahili language in Azerbaijan and the availability of scholarships for Kenyan students to study in the Caspian sea country, famously known as the land of fire.

Azerbaijan is among the Asian and European nations that are keen in including Swahili in their curriculum, and once the program is rolled out, a sizeable pie of Kenyan teachers will find their way to get bread in the former USSR state.

The two diplomats also discussed cooperation in tourism, people to people diplomacy and air transport.