TSC Flags Major Teacher Shortages as Students Urged to Consider Music, Creative Arts Courses
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has urged students preparing to join university in September to consider pursuing courses in subjects facing significant shortages of qualified teachers, including music and creative arts.
TSC Chairperson Jamleck Muturi said the commission is experiencing an acute shortage of teachers in several technical and creative subjects introduced or strengthened under Kenya’s Competency-Based Education (CBE) curriculum.
Speaking during the Kenya Music Festival Gala in Bungoma County on Tuesday, Muturi singled out music, creative arts, home science, woodwork and metalwork among the areas requiring more teachers.
“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,” Muturi said.
His remarks could provide fresh direction for students currently weighing their university options, particularly those looking for courses that could offer stronger employment prospects after graduation.
Muturi specifically encouraged universities to advise students who have already secured admission to consider changing their courses where possible and pursuing disciplines experiencing teacher shortages.
“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,” he said.
The comments come as Kenya continues to expand the implementation of the Competency-Based Education system, increasing demand for teachers capable of delivering practical, creative and technical subjects.
TSC to promote 34,016 teachers
Muturi also announced that the commission plans to promote 34,016 teachers in the coming weeks, potentially offering relief to educators who have been waiting for career progression.
He indicated that teachers serving in shortage areas would also be considered as the commission moves forward with the promotion process.
“Once I get proper information from the ministry and the chair, we will consider you,” Muturi said while addressing concerns raised by teachers over promotion and career progression.
The announcement comes months after the TSC and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) reached an agreement aimed at streamlining the promotion of teachers.
The agreement, signed in June 2026, was anchored on the Collective Bargaining Agreement signed by the two parties in July 2025 and seeks to address longstanding delays and bottlenecks in the promotion process.
Under the revised arrangement, teachers seeking promotion are expected to go through a less complicated process before recommendations and appointments are finalised.
Muturi said the changes followed approximately a year of consultations between the commission and teachers’ unions, with discussions focusing on the Career Progression Guidelines introduced in 2018.
“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,” Muturi said.
The latest announcement therefore puts university course choices and teacher career progression at the centre of TSC’s staffing strategy.
For students preparing to enter university, the message from the commission is clear: disciplines such as music, creative arts, home science, woodwork and metalwork could offer opportunities in a sector currently struggling to fill vacancies.
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