The fate of 25,252 teachers whose promotions were recently rejected by Parliament will be decided on Tuesday when the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) meets with the National Assembly’s Education Committee.
These teachers have not received their promotions since the TSC announced the successful candidates on April 2, 2025, following protests from education stakeholders and the committee’s rejection, which cited unfairness. The committee has summoned the TSC to clarify the promotion criteria and the results.
In a previous meeting on April 14, 2025, committee members accused the TSC of using unclear promotion criteria and not adhering to principles of fairness. They argued that the promotions favored certain regions disproportionately, leaving out deserving candidates from other areas.
Following this, the MPs made several recommendations for the TSC to implement before proceeding with the promotions. The affected teachers have yet to receive increased salaries based on these promotions. On Tuesday, all TSC commissioners and CEO Nancy Macharia are expected to appear before the committee to present the status of the resolutions.
The MPs’ recommendations may result in some teachers being removed from the promotions list while others who were overlooked may be added. Among the suggestions is a review of any promotions granted within six months of a previous promotion.
Additionally, they recommended that the TSC prioritize promotions for teachers who have served more than seven years in the same job group and are within three years of retirement.
The Education Committee, chaired by MP Julius Melly, also suggested that teachers promoted in one year should not be eligible for promotion in the following year. This means that teachers who were promoted last year and again this year will have their promotions reviewed.
The TSC is also expected to report to the committee on how it has ensured a proportional distribution of promotions across all regions to maintain equity.
This issue arose following protests from the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA), which argued that the commission allocated promotion slots equally without considering population size and staffing disparities in different regions.
Ms. Macharia has previously asserted that the promotions were conducted fairly and transparently. Speaking at the Kenya National Schools Principals Forum in Mombasa last month, she expressed hope for an amicable resolution so that deserving teachers can begin enjoying their new roles.
“Even before we announced the results of the interviews, your own Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association and trade unions were protesting the promotion criteria,” Ms. Macharia stated.
“Year after year, many of you have earned well-deserved promotions and reached the pinnacle of the principal role because most of you take your work seriously,” she added.
When the TSC appeared before the Education Committee on April 14, 2025, it presented data showing that Machakos County had the highest number of promotions (690), while Garissa County had the lowest (303).
A committee member revealed that after the meeting, the committee’s leadership and the TSC held an informal session where Ms. Macharia was questioned about why she had ‘misadvised’ the commission.
However, the CEO insisted that her recommendations regarding the promotions were disregarded by the TSC board, leading to the current stalemate. An analysis of the data presented at that time indicated that the promotions were distributed with slight variations across counties, regardless of the size or number of applicants in each area.
The promotions covered nine different grades, from C2 to D5. The largest number of promotions occurred in grades C4 and C5, with 8,508 and 5,425 teachers promoted, respectively.
This was followed by 4,971 promotions to grade C3, 2,519 to D1, 1,445 to C2, and 1,410 to D3. At the higher executive levels, though fewer in number, 799 teachers were promoted to D2, 128 to D4, and 47 to D5.
