The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has issued new instructions affecting several recently promoted teachers.
Following promotion interviews conducted in January and February, TSC elevated 23,388 teachers to new grades. Many have already received both appointment and posting letters and begun their new roles. However, some teachers have only received appointment letters and are yet to be posted due to a lack of vacancies.
TSC has directed that these teachers wait until positions become available, largely dependent on upcoming retirements. Most of the affected are school heads and deputies who will have to wait for their counterparts to retire, starting from the end of June 2025. A significant wave of retirements is expected to begin on June 30, 2025, and may continue until August 31, 2025.
TSC has already released lists of promoted teachers per county to County and Sub-County Directors, who are tasked with printing and issuing promotion letters. The postings followed approval by the National Assembly Education Committee, led by Tinderet MP Julius Melly.
Despite seeking to promote 25,252 teachers, only 5,690 positions were funded due to a Sh1 billion allocation from Parliament. This raised concerns, as 5,291 teachers were promoted despite not meeting the minimum requirement of three years in their current grade, contrary to the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG).
MPs criticized the promotions, citing favoritism and regional bias, such as promoting junior teachers over more experienced ones and unequal distribution of promotion slots. In response, TSC removed 1,864 teachers from the promotion list for not meeting the required three years of service.
TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia confirmed these changes were in line with the Education Committee’s directives. The Commission also redistributed the affected slots proportionally across counties.
In light of these concerns, TSC plans to implement new promotion guidelines to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability. Dr. Macharia assured MPs that the new system would standardize promotion procedures, and future promotions would be processed through an online platform to enhance efficiency.
The Commission also introduced a standard scoring system for interviews, factoring in teacher performance, leadership, age, and academic contributions. It has established an automatic promotion policy for teachers in common cadre grades who meet the three-year service requirement and demonstrate satisfactory performance.
In Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), the Commission committed to promoting teachers serving in acting capacities without proper recognition, using affirmative action to match their roles with appropriate grades.
Successful candidates must also provide five mandatory documents in compliance with Chapter 6 of the Kenyan Constitution, which emphasizes integrity and ethical conduct in public service:
1. Certificate of Good Conduct (DCI)
2. Clearance from HELB
3. Tax Compliance Certificate (KRA)
4. EACC Clearance
5. CRB Clearance
These documents are essential for finalizing the promotion process.