Mixed Reactions As Over 36000 Teachers Are Promoted. Following interviews conducted in December and January of this year, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has released a list of 36,505 teachers who have been promoted to various job categories.
The process that will see the successful candidates get enhanced salary in their new job grades is concluded with the release of the list, which can be found on the TSC website. Only the instructors’ registration numbers and the code for the job grade they applied for are listed in the list.
“At a secondary school, I was promoted to deputy head teacher (grade D1). At 54, my goal is to advance to the next grade before I retire, and I want to do that by working hard and being diligent.
A teacher from Kirinyaga County told educationboard.co.ke, “I think my experience and other responsibilities like marking national examinations and being involved in co-curricular activities have got me through.” He has spent six years in Grade C5.
For thousands of others, who applied and went to interviews but were not given consideration for advancement, it was a letdown.
“Can someone tell me what is wrong with my file? Or what is TSC looking for in these interviews? I am shortlisted every year but never considered [for promotion]. Teachers that I interviewed for and mentored are now getting ahead of me and becoming my bosses. It’s quite demoralising. I think I will opt for early retirement because I am no longer motivated to work; I have five months to 50 [years] and then I will hang up my boots,” said a teacher from Elgeyo Marakwet.
He told educationboard.co.ke that his last promotion was in 2011. He had been interviewed in 2017, 2021, 2023, and 2024 and had not been considered for promotion on each occasion
Mixed Reactions As Over 36000 Teachers Are Promoted
The teachers’ unions have been complaining for years that a large number of their members have been staying in the same grades. The TSC has only promoted teachers to cover vacancies brought about by natural attrition, citing a lack of funding for such efforts. Despite having asked Sh2.2 billion, it has only received Sh1 billion for promotions in the current fiscal year.
Collins Oyuu, the secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, requested last week that the TSC reimburse promoted teachers for the time they were eligible for promotion but were not given the new job grades.