Promotion boost for teachers as TSC declares 5,690 vacancies open

Teacher Service Commission CEO Dr Nancy Macharia at Teachers Service Commission amendments Bill 2024 Forum at the Kenya School of Government Kabete on Tuesday, February 7, 2024. [File, Standard]

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced the promotion of 5,690 teachers who have long endured stagnation in the same job group.

This will come as a relief to teachers who have been serving in the 3,445 newly established schools over the past five years, which led TSC to post educators in acting capacities.

These teachers have felt professionally trapped, prompting ongoing outcries from teachers’ unions.

However, the commission said that this mass promotion, which includes both primary and secondary school educators, will bring the total number of promoted teachers in the last five years to 76,690.

Last year, some 36,504 teachers who had stagnated in the same job group, were moved to new grades.

The promotions are particularly timely as schools prepare for a significant shift with the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

The promotions include 755 openings for principals in job group D3, 816 for deputy principals (job group D1), 1,208 head teachers (job group C5), and 2,911 deputy head teachers in job group C4.

Applicants for these positions must meet specific service and appraisal requirements. For instance, aspiring principals must have served as deputy principals or senior teachers for at least six months and received performance appraisals.

Teachers seeking deputy principal roles must have served as senior master III for a minimum period of three years.

Digitised system

Headteachers should have served as deputy head teacher II for a minimum period of three years while tutors aiming for deputy head teacher II must have served as senior teachers for the same period.

In an advertisement made on Tuesday, teachers have just four days to apply through the TSC portal, with the deadline set for midnight November, 18.

TSC boss Nancy Macharia urged teachers to apply confidently, assuring that the commission’s digitised recruitment system would help address the backlog in applications.

Macharia encouraged teachers who possess requisite qualifications to apply. “Candidates who are successful in the interviews shall be required to present valid Chapter 6 documents before they are appointed. Successful candidates will be posted where the vacancies exist,” stated Macharia.

This comes a week after Macharia told primary school heads at the recently concluded Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha) conference in Mombasa that promotions will fill the gaps in schools.

Kepsha chairman Johnson Nzioka had urged TSC to promote teachers saying the management of Junior Secondary Schools has brought additional responsibilities that necessitate promotion.

“Headteachers have stagnated at job Group D1 because there is no policy for progressive movement. How will these teachers be appreciated? Will there be an opening where they can progress from D1 to D2?’’ posed Nzioka. “We expect the Head of the Public Service and the TSC to give us an assurance that they are addressing the problem of stagnation with finality,” he added.

 Macharia regretted that in the past, recruitment did not attract more teachers, a factor she said has starved schools with low numbers of teachers, putting pressure on the teachers already employed by TSC.

“In the past, the commission has failed to attract enough applicants for promotional positions even after lowering the requirements,” said the TSC boss adding that the challenge was more prevalent in special needs schools.