The Teacher Service Commission (TSC) has recently published its list of 25,252 teachers who have successfully attained promotions, highlighting discrepancies among counties that have sparked concern among legislators and education stakeholders.
Machakos County led the list with 690 promotions, in stark contrast to Garissa’s 303, which is the lowest of all counties.
The data was presented to the National Assembly Committee on Education after a request from lawmakers to review the promotions.
However, the figures have elicited criticism, with concerns raised regarding the criteria applied to identify which teachers were promoted and how the slots were allocated nationwide. Legislators, spearheaded by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, have vigorously condemned the seeming uniformity in promotion distributions, hinting at deviations from historical practices and ignoring demographic realities.
Melly, who chairs the education committee, criticized the Commission for promoting certain teachers multiple times while many others have remained stagnant in the same job group for over a decade.
“How can you promote someone three times consecutively while others have been confined to one job group for over a decade? ” he inquired.
“This isn’t the first instance we’ve received such grievances from teachers. The manner in which this list was generated shows a lack of fairness. We must ascertain how the TSC reached these conclusions. ”
The National Assembly Committee on Education then dismissed the list and insisted that TSC deliver a detailed explanation regarding its promotion criteria. The commission has until Thursday to address the concerns raised by the committee.
While appearing before the MPs, TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia defended the commission’s methodology, asserting that the promotions were guided by regulatory frameworks that ensure equity and consistency.
She referenced pertinent policies, including Regulation 73 of the Code of Regulations for Teachers, the Career Progression Guidelines, and the Policy on Selection and Appointment of Institutional Administrators.
“By aligning promotion policies with legal and regulatory frameworks, the process strictly follows Regulation 73 of the Code of Regulations for Teachers, the Career Progression Guidelines, and the Policy on Selection and Appointment of Institutional Administrators,” Macharia stated.
Despite her defense, the process has faced criticism from the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), which argued that the promotions disproportionately favored regions with fewer teachers to the detriment of more populous counties.
Moses Nthurima, the Acting Secretary-General of Kuppet, asserted that the distribution overlooked teacher population density and longstanding instances of stagnation.
He noted that many teachers who had been working in acting roles for several years were excluded, whereas some newly hired teachers were promoted in rapid succession.
“Certain regions have been placed at a disadvantage. If the 25,000 slots were not distributed proportionally, based on the number of teachers in each county, that means counties with high teacher populations are suffering. Those who have been stagnant in their job group for years have been overlooked,” Nthurima stated.
According to TSC, a total of 5,291 teachers were advanced under affirmative action for the 2024/25 financial year. The affirmative action group included Isiolo, Lamu, and Mandera counties, which received 282, 280, and 270 promotions, respectively.
On the opposite side of the scale, Kiambu had merely 46 promotions, while both Nairobi and Murang’a had 63 each. The promotions spanned job groups from C2 to D5. Grade C4 registered the most promotions at 8,508, followed by C5 at 5,425 and C3 at 4,971.
Additional grades encompassed D1 with 2,519 promotions, C2 with 1,445, and D3 with 1,410. At the senior levels, D2 had 799 promotions, D4 had 128, while just 47 teachers advanced to D5. Nthurima asserted that the process lacked equity and stated that factors such as tenure, performance, and experience were not taken into account consistently.
“The commission now claims it considered age as well, but age has never been a principal factor. The crucial aspects are years of service, duties carried out, and performance in curricular and co-curricular activities,” he remarked.
He questioned why educators who had acted in official capacities for extended periods were consistently ignored. “Some educators have functioned as deputies or principals for six or seven years and continue to be left in acting positions, while others in less densely populated counties are receiving promotions,” Nthurima expressed.
The union representative also criticized the Commission’s lack of consultation, noting that Kuppet had not been involved during the planning or execution of the promotions.
“We seek to comprehend what guided such promotions. Unless there are undisclosed factors, it is evident that many worthy teachers have been overlooked. We contacted the commission, but it has never replied. It seems the commission does not engage with unions. TSC perceives unions as inconsequential,” he stated.
Legislators and union leaders now desire that future promotion processes adopt a more consultative method, ensure accountability, and reflect both population dynamics and career stagnation issues throughout regions.