Teachers unions have questioned the promotions merit list published by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) faulted the teachers' employer for not giving full details of teachers promoted.
The unions questioned why the commission did not provide the real names against the TSC numbers published for audit purposes.
The unions claimed that without the real names even dead teachers could make it to the merit list.
"We are totally disgusted with what has been rolled out. Our attention has been drawn to several complaints from teachers regarding which criteria were used in the interviews to award promotions. We are demanding an immediate response or call a meeting with us to address this issue," Knut Secretary General Collins Oyuu said.
Oyuu said publishing the tutors' TSC numbers without indicating how many were promoted in every grade and region is questionable.
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"It is important we get the criteria. We have teachers who are qualified but are not promoted. Others even appear not to be qualified but have been moved. We are basing our argument on what criteria was used by TSC," he said.
The Knut secretary-general was responding to the promotions list that TSC published on its website but left out the names and job groups.
He said the list is "lacking transparency and fairness."
Oyuu wondered how a teacher who has stagnated in the same job group for many years was left out while new graduates got promotion.
"A teacher who has stayed in the same job group of C1 from 2017 had hopes of being promoted but instead, another teacher got into group C1 in 2023 then goes ahead to be promoted to C2 leaving him behind," he said.
A teacher, Mr Kosgey who is 59 years old and living with disability, expected to be promoted but was left out.
Although he still has six years of service, Kosgey said he has lost hope of getting a promotion.
"Am currently 59 years turning 60 this year. At times I wonder what criteria my employer uses to promote its staff. It's even better if they can give me early retirement if this is to go by the frustration which is demeaning," he said.
Another teacher Mr Kiprono said at 45 years old, he had stagnated in job group C5 from 2017 and is now demoralised.
"I am acting as deputy principal, have been a senior examiner at Knec and even taken students up to the regional level in Kenya secondary schools music festival. I have the best rating in TPAD and have attended three consecutive interviews since 2021," he said.
Another teacher, Mr Wafula from Trans Nzoia said he also missed out on TSC D1 promotion at 60 years even after acting for 12 years.
"There was a time they said masters would be an added advantage, we produced our masters degrees. TSC said co-curricular activities and results, we produced the evidence. They then asked for letters of responsibilities we hold. They asked us to go for a diploma in education management, which we did. Which qualification is this we lack," he said.
Oyuu said teachers are depressed because of frustration from their employer.
"It beats logic that a teacher who is 57 years old, has stagnated all along and is set for retirement in three years and somebody who was employed two years ago appears on the promotion list. A teacher has written to me indicating that he is going to resign by Monday if I do not get a solution," he said.
Kuppet Secretary General Akelo Misori said: "It is not acceptable since the government has released the money for teacher promotion and then they fail to promote teachers."
Misori said Kuppet had sanctioned TSC for a meeting on Friday and among other things will discuss the promotion issue at length.
"TSC must account for the Sh1.1 billion they were given for the exercise. They must give us a deliberate strategy on how they want to remove the stagnation tag on the teacher's face," he said.
He noted that in some areas, teachers have stagnated in certain job groups for several years, in particular C3.
Misori said that deputy principals who were in job groups M, N and P were lumped together in job group D1 while principals were placed in D3, D4 and D5.
"Most teachers who are acting as deputy principals are in job groups C3 three job groups less to be a deputy principal," he said.
Kuppet national secretary, of secondary schools, Edward Obwocha explained that teachers' scorecard is based on age, period served in acting capacity, participation in co-curriculum activities as well as Kenya National Examination Council examinations.
"But we have teachers who have such equal ability, who attended the interview but were left out of the promotion. Some of them have grown old in the profession and were not considered," he said.
He said many teachers living with disabilities were shortlisted but were not considered.
"We have those who were in acting capacity but never made it to the shortlist. Some have stayed in the same job group for long with new recruits bypassing them, this demoralises teachers," he said.
Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers chairman Peter Sitienei said a majority of teachers in special needs centres are leaving for ordinary schools because of inequality in promotions.
"We have some teachers who apply for ordinary schools leaving a big vacuum in our schools. we urge the ministry to promote but retain them in our schools," Sitienei said.