Why 5,291 Unqualified Teachers Were Promoted by TSC

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has faced criticism for advancing 5,291 incompetent teachers throughout the nation while deserving educators remain stuck in the same work categories for decades.

During a meeting of the National Assembly Education Committee on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, legislators grilled the Commission about the procedure for promoting teachers.

“You haven’t answered our questions. Julius Melly, a member of parliament for Tinderet and head of the Education Committee, questioned, “The teachers and this Committee want a complete three-year dataset of promotional data, including the list of all teachers interviewed, their scores, and interview outcomes, as well as a list of those promoted in the current cycle who were also promoted in the last three years—with data on age, gender, and ethnicity.”

Led by Commission Chair Dr. Jamleck Muturi and outgoing Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia, TSC acknowledged in its submissions that 5,291 teachers were promoted despite not having the minimum three-year requirement in grade.

The TSC acknowledges that it hired teachers who lacked the necessary qualifications.
The Commission cited a lack of qualified applicants in certain districts and used affirmative action to support a waiver, reducing the requirement to as little as six months.

“The decrease was essential to guarantee fair opportunities for teachers in all counties, particularly those in hard-to-fill and marginalized areas,” TSC stated in its submission.

In addition, the Committee rejected the data provided by TSC on teacher promotions, including figures broken down by sub-county, as insufficient and deceptive.

“The statistics appear distorted. This paper fails. Nabii Nabwera, the MP for Lugari, asserted, “A fast examination reveals that the data disproportionately favors certain regions.”

Other members of the committee concurred with his ideas, notably Mary Emaase, the legislator for Teso South, and Dick Maungu, the MP for Luanda, who highlighted data redundancy and errors.

With respect to positive action, Nancy Macharia noted that it had met gender and disability thresholds, noting that 47.04% of promotions were given to female teachers and that more than 1,200 people with disabilities (PWDs) had been promoted.

In several regions, MPs Lament the Unfair Promotion of Teachers
The Committee was not persuaded, though. Moiben MP Phylis Bartoo wondered why some sub-counties saw almost all of their teachers promoted while others only saw a few.

She pointed out instances of duplication and misclassification and questioned if such inequalities suggested a shortage of schools or instructors in those locations.

She pointed out that Busia County’s inclusion of “Busia” as a sub-county was a major blunder, claiming that such errors damaged the credibility of the entire analysis.

“We cannot have a system where a select few teachers are promoted again and again while others wait for decades,” Melly said.

In addition, the lawmakers requested clarification on the rules governing policy.