TSC Gains Parliament Approval to Promote 23,388 Teachers; Letters Out Next Week.
A total of 23,388 teachers will begin receiving their promotion letters next week following the clearance by the National Assembly Committee on Education, led by Tinderet MP Julius Melly. This move comes after a rigorous review of the Teachers Service Commission’s (TSC) recent promotion process.
Although TSC had initially sought to promote 25,252 teachers after conducting interviews in January and February, only the promotions of 23,388 were approved. The remaining promotions were contested over compliance with the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG), which mandate a minimum of three years in one grade before a teacher is eligible for promotion.
During its scrutiny, the Education Committee found that 5,291 teachers had been promoted despite failing to meet the required minimum service duration. Legislators raised serious concerns about these irregularities, claiming the promotion process was unfair, biased, and discriminatory.
They pointed out specific issues such as junior teachers being elevated while more experienced ones were bypassed, unequal distribution of promotion slots across counties, and disregard for the stipulated three-year minimum. The committee viewed this as a violation of established procedures.
In a status report presented on May 27, TSC acknowledged the errors and confirmed that 1,864 names had been dropped from the original promotion list published in April. TSC CEO Nancy Macharia told the committee that the list had been revised in line with the committee’s resolutions. She explained that the affected slots were then redistributed equitably based on the number of interviewed applicants across all counties.
Breakdown of Promotions by County
Among the counties with the highest number of teachers promoted are Machakos (762), Meru (751), Kakamega (748), Makueni (742), and Nakuru (741). Counties with the least promotions include Garissa (139), Lamu (194), Mandera (197), and Wajir (214). A total of 143,849 teachers were interviewed, and 25,252 were initially selected before adjustments were made.
In its May 22 statement, the TSC defended its earlier actions, citing an acute shortage of qualified candidates for administrative roles, particularly principal and deputy headteacher positions. The commission admitted that only 598 teachers qualified for 1,410 principal vacancies under Grade D3, and 7,460 met the requirements for 3,686 deputy headteacher roles under Grade C4.
To bridge this gap, TSC temporarily relaxed the three-year rule, reducing it to six months for the recent exercise. This policy shift was introduced to attract more applicants and address the issue of many teachers holding acting roles without formal appointment. TSC argued that this waiver was particularly beneficial in arid and semi-arid regions, where staffing shortages are more severe.
A senior official from the commission said it was important to remember the waiver was not a disregard for policy but a necessary adjustment to fill urgent vacancies that had remained open for years.
Out of the 5,291 teachers who benefitted from this relaxation, 3,427 were placed in key administrative roles. The commission has now urged that these promotions be upheld, stressing that the waiver was essential to maintaining effective school leadership across the country.
One senior TSC officer stated, “We needed to ensure that learning institutions, especially those in hard-to-staff regions, were not left without leadership due to procedural rigidity.”
Despite these arguments, the Education Committee only approved the promotion of 23,388 teachers, rejecting the rest due to non-compliance with the CPG.
Future Plans and Reforms
Looking ahead, the commission pledged to develop and implement standardized promotion guidelines after consultations with teachers, unions, and other stakeholders. These guidelines will align with the Constitution’s principles of equity, non-discrimination, and inclusiveness.
TSC reassured Parliament of its commitment to transparency and accountability. Macharia emphasized the commission’s renewed focus on fair and consistent practices in future promotion exercises.
She stated, “The commission is committed to ensuring all promotions are carried out in a manner that is fair, transparent, and grounded in clear policy frameworks.”
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This promotion process was further constrained by financial limitations. The National Assembly had allocated Sh1 billion, which was only enough to cater for 5,690 positions—a fraction of the 25,252 posts TSC had planned to fill.
Despite this, the commission managed to conduct the promotion process and present a revised, committee-approved list of 23,388 teachers, marking a significant step toward addressing long-standing promotion backlogs in the education sector.
TSC Gains Parliament Approval to Promote 23,388 Teachers; Letters Out Next Week.