Joy as over 6,000 new primary, secondary teachers land jobs

DODOMA: OVER 6,000 teachers have been recruited in different primary and secondary schools after they successfully passed their interviews at different levels.

Already, the new teachers have been assigned their duty stations in different parts of the country, according to the Head of Government Communications of the Public Service Recruitment Secretariat (PSRS), Ms Lynn Chawala.

In a statement availed to the media yesterday, Ms Chawala said that the new jobs are part of 14,648 teaching slots provided by President Samia Suluhu Hassan in efforts to reduce shortage of teachers.

After the PSRS announced the vacancies, the government kicked off an exercise for conducting interviews countrywide to fill the 14,648 positions beginning January 14. The exercise will be completed on February 24 this year.

“As of February 18th, this year, a total of 6,055 applicants who had sailed through during interviews have been assigned their duty stations in different parts of the country after completion of employment procedures,’’ read a statement in part.

Earlier last month when announcing the exercise, the Minister of State in the President’s Office (Public Service and Good Governance), George Simbachawene, noted that 201,707 candidates had applied for 14,648 teaching positions as he insisted that the PSRS would ensure that the exercise is conducted with fairness, equity and impartiality.

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The recruitment is a key component of a wider plan to create 155,008 employment opportunities in the public service, in line with promises outlined in the ruling party’s 2020-2025 CCM manifesto.

As the deadline for the ongoing interviews beckons, a good number of applicants are confident that they will land a job in the 14,648 slots that are up for grabs.

So far, recruitment tests and interviews are currently being conducted in regions where the candidates reside, to reduce travel expenses, accommodation and other challenges.

In a statement yesterday, the PSRS insisted that in ensuring transparency, the interviews for the teaching cadre were being conducted by representatives from the PSRS, President’s Office (Public Service) and Regional Administration and Local Government, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Teachers Service Commission (TSC) as well as offices of Regional Commissioners countrywide.

“Candidates who will sail through during the ongoing interviews but miss out in new employment, their names will be preserved in the data base of the Ajira Porto System for one year, whereas they will be directly employed without interviews if the government provides employment permits for teachers within that period,’’ the statement read in part.