TSC Names High-Demand CBE Subjects: Where the Teacher Shortage Really Is (2026)

The Teachers Service Commission has named the senior school subjects facing the sharpest teacher shortages under Kenya's competency-based education system, and the list explains a lot about why some schools are struggling to offer every pathway track this year.

Speaking at the release of the 2026 KUCCPS placement results on Wednesday, 8 July, TSC's Dr Reuben Nthamburi identified Building Construction, Woodwork, Media Work, Marine and Fisheries, and Home Science as the areas with the biggest gaps, alongside Aviation, Creative Arts, Pre-Technical Studies and related technical subjects. He also urged universities to start training teachers for these areas directly.

"Those subjects have the biggest challenge because they are new and were not there before," Dr Nthamburi said, pointing to the root of the problem: these learning areas simply did not exist under the old 8-4-4 system, so no teacher-training pipeline was ever built for them. A subject can appear on a school's timetable under CBE years before the first specialist teacher for it graduates from university.

Why this matters for your child's pathway choice

For parents weighing which senior school pathway fits their Grade 9 learner, this shortage has a practical side effect: schools that lack a qualified teacher in a given technical or creative subject may offer it thinly, combine it with another class, or lean heavily on theory over practical work until staffing catches up. It is worth asking a prospective senior school directly which of its offered subjects are fully staffed, especially in Pre-Technical Studies, Creative Arts, and Home Science, before assuming every subject on the pathway brochure runs at full strength.

It also reframes a subject choice question many families do not think to ask: a shortage-hit subject is not a weaker choice for a learner who is genuinely strong in it, but it does mean parents should confirm staffing rather than assume it, the same way they would check boarding capacity or lab equipment.

What TSC is asking universities to do

Dr Nthamburi's message to universities was direct: align teacher-training programmes with the Teacher Education Framework TSC has developed, so graduates come out already prepared to teach under CBE rather than needing to retrain on the job. "The reason is we require the universities now to train teachers so that they come out qualified and are competency-based," he said.

That framework push sits alongside the 54,000 teaching vacancies TSC announced this month, 34,016 of them senior posts and roughly 20,000 for CBC/junior school. Read together, the two announcements describe the same transition from two angles: TSC has the posts open, but the university pipeline for some of the newest subjects has not caught up yet. For anyone considering teaching as a career, technical and creative CBE subjects are, for now, some of the least competitive routes into the profession simply because so few qualified candidates exist.

For learners already in a shortage-area subject

If your child is doing well in Pre-Technical Studies, Creative Arts, Home Science, or a similar area, the shortage is not a reason for concern about the subject's legitimacy. Grading and KJSEA placement work the same regardless of national staffing numbers. It is simply useful context: fewer specialist teachers nationally can mean more variation in teaching quality between schools, so consistent revision materials at home matter more, not less, in these subjects.

Not sure which pathway actually fits your learner's strengths first? Our free KJSEA Pathway Checker takes two minutes and weighs performance across all 9 compulsory Grade 9 learning areas, including Pre-Technical Studies and Creative Arts and Sports, to suggest a starting point pathway before you have that staffing conversation with the school.

Sources: The Kenya Times, Kenyans.co.ke and Education News Kenya, reporting Dr Reuben Nthamburi's remarks at the 2026 KUCCPS placement results release, 8 July 2026.