TSC under fire for failing to promote 130,000 Teachers as agreed

TSC under fire for failing to promote 130,000 Teachers as agreed

The Teachers Service Commission, TSC, is under fire for failing to promote 130,000 teachers as earlier agreed on.

The Kenya National Union of Post-Primary Teachers (KUPPET) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) have lashed out at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for promoting only a limited number of teachers, falling short of their expectations and prior agreements.

Speaking at an event in Kericho over the weekend, KNUT’s First National Vice Chairperson, Malel Lang’at, termed the promotion of 25,288 teachers as insufficient to address career stagnation and professional growth across the country.

KUPPET’s Kericho Branch Executive, Mary Rotich, echoed the sentiments and stated that the union had anticipated at least 130,000 promotions, emphasising the need for more opportunities to support teachers’ career advancement.

”We have many teachers who have qualified for promotion but the Teachers Service Commission is still sitting on the same. Even the recent promotions where they claimed to have promoted the same,” Lang’at stated.

”The TSC instead of promoting teachers professionally, there is politicization of employment in this country,” he added.

The criticisms came following recent calls made on January 30 where KUPPET officials took an issue with the criteria used to allocate the promotion slots terming in the country.

The union also faulted the Commission for distributing the slots unequally across all counties. As a result, the protestors demanded the Commission to fill the available slots on a pro-rata basis.

“We want to see the commission allocate proportionately the slots of promotion which means the counties that have gotten the highest number of teachers must get the highest number of slots so that we act fairly in terms of spreading,” Moses Nthurima, KUPPET Secretary General revealed.

“For that, we are demanding that the Teachers Service Commission use pro-rata to ensure that teachers are treated equally,” he added.

TSC conducts teacher promotions in Kenya through a structured process based on merit, experience, and available vacancies. Aged teachers stand a better chance of getting promoted.

Additionally, the commission uses the Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) tool, available vacancies, and affirmative action to help regions that are marginalized as some of the considerations to undertake promotions.

According to TSC, lower job groups benefit from automatic advancements based on years of service, senior positions require interviews and performance evaluations.

However, the teachers unions argue that the current promotion structure has left many teachers stagnating in the same job groups for years, urging TSC to implement a more inclusive and transparent promotion framework.

A total of 189,000 Teachers applied for the 25,288 promotion vacancies advertised by the Teachers Service Commission, TSC.

In an internal notice, the Commission showed that the adverts for promotions had received an overwhelming response, highlighting the high demand for career advancement opportunities among the tutors.

The vacancies, which include 9,179 positions for post-primary schools and 16,109 for primary schools, attracted applications from teachers across the country.

At the sub-county level, 96,640 primary school teachers were shortlisted, with interviews done between January 13 and January 24, 2025.

For post-primary vacancies, 44,043 teachers in grades C3 to D2 were interviewed at the county level from January 27 to February 7, 2025.

Meanwhile, 7,224 principals and teachers in grades D3 to D5 attended interviews at regional headquarters during the same period.

TSC under fire for failing to promote 130,000 Teachers as agreed

The Teachers Service Commission, TSC, is under fire for failing to promote 130,000 teachers as earlier agreed on.

The Kenya National Union of Post-Primary Teachers (KUPPET) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) have lashed out at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for promoting only a limited number of teachers, falling short of their expectations and prior agreements.

Speaking at an event in Kericho over the weekend, KNUT’s First National Vice Chairperson, Malel Lang’at, termed the promotion of 25,288 teachers as insufficient to address career stagnation and professional growth across the country.

KUPPET’s Kericho Branch Executive, Mary Rotich, echoed the sentiments and stated that the union had anticipated at least 130,000 promotions, emphasising the need for more opportunities to support teachers’ career advancement.

”We have many teachers who have qualified for promotion but the Teachers Service Commission is still sitting on the same. Even the recent promotions where they claimed to have promoted the same,” Lang’at stated.

”The TSC instead of promoting teachers professionally, there is politicization of employment in this country,” he added.

The criticisms came following recent calls made on January 30 where KUPPET officials took an issue with the criteria used to allocate the promotion slots terming in the country.

The union also faulted the Commission for distributing the slots unequally across all counties. As a result, the protestors demanded the Commission to fill the available slots on a pro-rata basis.

“We want to see the commission allocate proportionately the slots of promotion which means the counties that have gotten the highest number of teachers must get the highest number of slots so that we act fairly in terms of spreading,” Moses Nthurima, KUPPET Secretary General revealed.

“For that, we are demanding that the Teachers Service Commission use pro-rata to ensure that teachers are treated equally,” he added.

TSC conducts teacher promotions in Kenya through a structured process based on merit, experience, and available vacancies. Aged teachers stand a better chance of getting promoted.

Additionally, the commission uses the Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) tool, available vacancies, and affirmative action to help regions that are marginalized as some of the considerations to undertake promotions.

According to TSC, lower job groups benefit from automatic advancements based on years of service, senior positions require interviews and performance evaluations.

However, the teachers unions argue that the current promotion structure has left many teachers stagnating in the same job groups for years, urging TSC to implement a more inclusive and transparent promotion framework.

A total of 189,000 Teachers applied for the 25,288 promotion vacancies advertised by the Teachers Service Commission, TSC.

In an internal notice, the Commission showed that the adverts for promotions had received an overwhelming response, highlighting the high demand for career advancement opportunities among the tutors.

The vacancies, which include 9,179 positions for post-primary schools and 16,109 for primary schools, attracted applications from teachers across the country.

At the sub-county level, 96,640 primary school teachers were shortlisted, with interviews done between January 13 and January 24, 2025.

For post-primary vacancies, 44,043 teachers in grades C3 to D2 were interviewed at the county level from January 27 to February 7, 2025.

Meanwhile, 7,224 principals and teachers in grades D3 to D5 attended interviews at regional headquarters during the same period.