TSC's fresh call for 14,000 promotion slots

Teachers' Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Some 14,742 teachers who had been stuck in the same job group now have another chance to advance.

Following a cancellation last week, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) issued a new call for applicants.

Teachers’ unions and other educators defended the previous advertisement, claiming that it was discriminatory and did not hire teachers who had been on the job for a long time.

TSC has now stated that primary schools will receive the lion’s share of promotions.

A total of 13,713 vacancies have been announced, with 3,210 going to secondary schools and 10,507 going to primary schools.

According to Akello Misori, Secretary General of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), all teachers who have served in various capacities as senior teachers, Deputy Principals, and Principals will be automatically promoted.

“We demand that all teachers in Job Groups C2 to C3 be promoted automatically after three years of service. We demand that no cadre be left in promotion advertisements for as long as it is currently the case,” Misori said.

He added that many principals in Job Group D3 serving in Sub-County schools had been stagnant for many years and were not considered for promotion.

According to him, the majority of teachers in post-primary education are in Job Groups C3 and C4.

The promotions, according to TSC Chief Executive Officer Dr Nancy Macharia, will be based on career progression guidelines.

Misori, on the other hand, said senior Masters in Secondary Schools is a substantive deployment according to career progression guidelines.

“The entry cadre to senior Masters Category is senior Masters IV a position teacher at C3 should be promoted to. We noticed that most schools do not have substantive senior Masters, so the majority are internally appointed where they have acted for a long time, which is illegal under labour laws,” Misori said.

He said the 1,330 teachers set for promotion are a small number when compared to the large number of teachers who have remained in this category.

Misori said the majority of those teachers are set to replace their counterparts who are leaving the service but will not necessarily be promoted.

“The majority of the advertised positions appear to be simply replacements for existing services, and thus there are no new promotions,” he said.

Overall, Dr Macharia said some 1,021 teachers will be sent to 18 ASAL counties while other parts of the country will share 13,717 teachers which will include principals, deputy principals, senior masters, head teachers in primary and secondary schools.

Four Teachers Training Colleges will also see new chief principals taking reign under Job Group 5.

Another 73 teachers are set to be promoted to chief principal status in both regular schools and in Special Needs Education (SNE) with another 603 set for principals in regular schools.

Eight places are reserved for Special Needs Education while 17 deputy principals I are also set to climb the ladder.

Those in Job Group D2 that have deputy principals II are slotted 725 places while those Deputies in cluster III for regular schools have 224 slots.

SNE will secure 15 places and 208 senior teachers in cluster II placed in the same D1 group.  Senior teachers 1 in C3 got the highest number with 1,330 teachers getting promoted. 

Primary schools head teachers will see 2,733 of them moved to regular school and placed under Job Group C5 compared.

Another 32 teachers in SNE will be placed for promotion with 7,720 Deputies in regular schools under C4 and 22 from the SNE replacing them.

Dr Macharia said teachers seeking promotion to the rank of Chief Principal in Teacher Training Colleges must have served as Senior Principal at T- Scale 14.

She said those in high schools must have served as Senior Principals but their Principals counterparts are required to produce proof of serving as Deputy Principal II/Senior Master I.

The Deputy Principal must possess experience as Deputy Principal II or Senior Master I T-Scale 12 while Deputy Principal II must have served as Deputy Principal III or Senior Master II. Deputy Principal III are required to have served as Senior Master III while those in Special Schools should have at least a Diploma in Special Needs Education.