President William Ruto has announced that a whopping 20,000 intern teachers are set to join the education sector starting January 2026!

Addressing the crowd at Uhuru Gardens on May 1st, Ruto didn’t hold back. He disclosed that a staggering Ksh 2.4 billion has already been injected into this unprecedented recruitment drive to fix the country’s critical teacher shortage.

“We’re battling a national crisis—a shortage of 116,000 teachers reported back in 2022! In just two years, we’ve added over 76,000 educators, and now we’re pushing forward with 20,000 more by 2026!” the President declared, triggering applause and gasps alike.

But that’s not all. The government is throwing in an extra Ksh 1.6 billion to upgrade teachers’ skills and another Ksh 1 billion to promote them—marking one of the largest investments in the education workforce in recent history.

“This isn’t just about numbers,” Ruto emphasized. “It’s about transforming education—improving literacy, fixing student-teacher ratios, and bringing long-term stability to schools nationwide.”

The upcoming internship program will equip new recruits with practical training, after which they’ll be deployed across the country and supported with a monthly stipend.

Meanwhile, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has sounded the alarm, warning that the teacher crisis could spiral further out of control with the full launch of senior secondary schools in 2026.

As Kenya watches closely, one question remains: Will this ambitious move be the game-changer the education system desperately needs? Stay tuned.