KUPPET demands the ongoing teacher's promotion stopped, wants parliament to investigate TSC

KUPPET national chairman Omboko Milemba flanked by officials addressed the press in Naivasha on 14/3/25 on teachers medical scheme. [Photo/Antony Gitonga]

Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education (KUPPET) wants the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to stop the ongoing promotion of teachers citing inequalities.

KUPPET National Chairman who doubles as Emuhaya Member of Parliament Omboko Milemba said the union has written a petition to the National Assembly Education Committee protesting the formula being used terming it unfair and discriminatory.

He added that TSC be investigated over funds meant for promotions despite parliament approving the money.

"We want TSC to stop immediately the promotions it is doing because the formula being used is unfair. We have teachers who have stayed in one cadre for almost eight years and they have not been promoted and on the other side, we have teachers who have not even stayed in one cadre for six months and they are being promoted," said Omboko.

"We have petitioned the Parliament to stop the promotions because the formula is unfair and we want equity in the distribution of resources. We want the Parliament to investigate the TSC over the money we released to them as by National Assembly."

Omboko who was speaking at Ematsuli Secondary School in Emuhaya in Vihiga County during the  issuance of Sh56million bursary across his constituency threatened that KUPPET would employ other mechanisms of dealing with TSC if it fails to stop the promotions.

"We have many ways which we can deploy to deal with TSC if it fails to stop the skewed promotions because we have teachers who are going to be disadvantaged in some regions," said Omboko.

Teachers have termed the quota system as unfair and unjust, stating that the formula disadvantages tutors in areas with a high number of unqualified teachers.

The tutors are protesting the over 19,000 positions advertised last year and interviews done in January this year.

Teachers claim that some tutors who were qualified for promotions were never called for the January interviews while those who were ineligible were called for the interviews.

Last month KUPPET pushed for major reforms in the teacher promotion system, citing stagnation and unfair distribution of vacancies as key concerns.

This is after the TSC announced promotions for 28,288 teachers across various grades this year.

However, KUPPET’s Deputy Secretary-General, Moses Nthurima, criticized the Teachers Service Commission for a skewed promotion process.

Nthurima said the promotion had disadvantaged many educators; particularly in areas with many teacher’s demands.

“A county with over 11,000 teachers is being allocated the same number of vacancies as another with just 1,000 teachers. This means that a teacher in a smaller county is ten times more likely to get promoted compared to one in a populous county,” Nthurima said.

This comes as the union demanded a solution to the plight of 130,000 teachers who have been stuck in the same job group for over five years.

Nthurima further calls for a review of the fast-track promotion policy for teachers in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL), arguing that it has created disparities instead of addressing staffing challenges in hardship areas.