Students planning to join university in September have been urged to consider courses in subjects where schools are struggling to find enough teachers.
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chairperson Jamleck Muturi said there is a shortage of teachers in areas such as music, creative arts, home science, woodwork and metalwork.
Muturi made the remarks on Tuesday during the Kenya Music Festival Gala in Bungoma County, where he called on students who have already secured university places to look at the areas where there are more job opportunities.
“Allow me to inform the country that we have a very serious shortage of teachers in the following areas: music, creative arts, home science, woodwork, metalwork, and quite a number of those areas,” he said.
He also asked universities to guide students on the courses they choose, saying some of the subjects introduced or given more attention under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system do not have enough teachers.
“I want to inform the universities that as students join universities in September, those are the areas you can consider telling them to switch to by changing their admission courses. We do not have teachers in those areas,” Muturi said.
The remarks could give students who are still reconsidering their university courses another option, especially those interested in taking a course that could improve their chances of securing employment after graduation.
Muturi also announced that TSC plans to promote 34,016 teachers in the coming weeks.
He said teachers working in some of the areas experiencing shortages would be considered as the commission implements the promotions.
The announcement comes shortly after TSC and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) agreed on changes aimed at making teacher promotions easier and faster.
The agreement, signed in June, followed the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the two sides in July 2025 and was partly aimed at addressing complaints over delays in promotions.
The two parties have also been reviewing the Career Progression Guidelines, which have been in place since 2018.
Muturi said the review followed consultations with teachers’ unions over the past year, with the aim of removing some of the challenges teachers face when seeking career progression.
“For the last year, we have been engaging with the unions, based on the signed CBA that we did in July last year. One of the issues that we have been looking at is the review of the career progression guideline for teachers,” he said.
The commission’s latest position therefore puts focus on two sides of the teacher shortage — encouraging new students to train in subjects that are in demand while working to promote and retain teachers already in the profession.
For students preparing to make their final university decisions, Muturi’s message was simple: courses in music, creative arts and technical subjects could offer an opportunity at a time when schools need more teachers in those areas.