Shortage of Trained CBC Educators Hits Nairobi Institutions

The shortage of Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) educators in Nairobi became a pressing issue in April 2025, when the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) revealed to Parliament that Kenya faced a deficit of 98,261 teachers across junior and senior secondary schools. Of this, 25,839 teachers were urgently needed to support the Grade 10 rollout planned for 2026. TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia, speaking before the National Assembly Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee on April 8, 2025, warned that without immediate recruitment, CBC implementation in urban centers like Nairobi could stall due to understaffed classrooms and overburdened educators.
The crisis deepened by July 18, 2025, when a report by Usawa Agenda and the Zizi Afrique Foundation highlighted that Kenya’s teacher shortage had surpassed 100,000, with Nairobi institutions among the hardest hit. The report emphasized that special needs schools and junior secondary programs were particularly vulnerable, as they require specialized CBC-trained educators to deliver inclusive and competency-focused instruction. The shortage has led to overcrowded classrooms, reduced instructional quality, and increased teacher burnout, especially in high-enrollment zones like Eastlands and Dagoretti.
TSC has estimated that to fully operationalize CBC in Grades 7–9, Kenya needs 149,350 teachers, a figure far beyond current staffing levels. Budgetary constraints and slow recruitment have hindered progress, prompting calls from teacher unions and education stakeholders for emergency hiring, accelerated diploma training, and deployment of CBC-certified educators. Nairobi County officials have also urged the Ministry of Education to prioritize urban schools in staffing plans, citing the city’s role as a pilot hub for CBC innovation.