Good news for teachers as TSC promotes 25,000 amid union outrage
Education
By
Lewis Nyaundi
| Apr 02, 2025
Some 25,000 teachers have reason to smile after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) even as a section of education stakeholders fault the exercise as flawed and skewed.
A document seen by the Standard shows that some 25,252 teachers have been promoted and will be a relief to thousands of teachers who have previously complained over stagnation in the same job group.
The National Treasury allocated Sh1 billion to the TSC for the promotions following vacancies advertised in November and December last year.
The promotion now brings the number of teachers promoted in the last two years to 56,756.
Those promoted include some 5,690 teachers who applied for promotions advertised in November 2024 and 19,943 who applied for vacancies advertised in December 2024.
However, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) on Wednesday raised concerns over unequal distribution of these promotions.
The union argues that TSC has equally distributed these promotions across all regions, disadvantaged counties and regions with high teacher distribution.
KUPPET acting secretary general, Moses Nthurima, indicates numerous teachers have lodged complaints, claiming they were unjustly left out of the 2024/2025 promotions.
Nthurima argues that the uniform allocation has disadvantaged teachers in counties with large teacher populations, such as Kiambu and Kakamega.
The union argues that these highly populated areas received the same number of opportunities as counties with a fraction of their staffing, creating an uneven playing field.
"The clear implication is that teachers in smaller counties were highly favored, while those in densely populated regions are forced to endure fierce competition," Nthurima said in a press briefing in Nairobi.
The union had earlier warned about the potential inequities in the promotion process, but it appears their concerns were not addressed.
The issue has sparked widespread dissatisfaction among educators, with some calling for a review of the promotion criteria to ensure fairness.
The release of the results of the interviews comes just two weeks after the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) protested against the promotion criteria, arguing that they were unfair to some teachers.
The principals petitioned both the TSC and the National Assembly, claiming that the quota system used by the TSC discriminated against regions with more qualified teachers