The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has maintained that the recent promotions of 25,000 teachers that were rejected by Parliament were conducted fairly and transparently.
Speaking on the matter for the first time, publicly, TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia said she hopes the issue will soon be amicably resolved to enable deserving teachers to start enjoying their new positions.
The Committee on Education of the National Assembly rejected the list of promotions, alleging that they were not done fairly and that some deserving teachers were left out.
Ms Macharia whose 10-year tenure ends on June 30, 2025 said she has, over the years, rolled out a number of reforms, the majority of which improved the school system. For instance, she cited the promotions of 25,000 teachers of all cadres, which have now sparked much criticism. She was speaking during the Kenya National Schools Principals Forum in Mombasa.
“Even before we could announce the results of the interviews, your own Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association and trade unions were up in arms protesting the criteria of the promotions,” said Ms Macharia.
“Year-after-year, many of you have raked in merited promotions and risen to the apex of the principal stature, all because the majority of you take your work seriously,” said the TSC boss.
Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) acting Secretary General Moses Nthurima asked for transparency in teacher promotions.
“Promotions are done on merit, in terms of how an individual has added value to learners, participated in co-curricular activities and entire environment and growth of learners. But what the commission did was to share positions equally across the counties,” said Mr Nthurima.
For instance, he cited Kiambu county which has 11,000 teachers and Wajir with 800 but end up getting equal number of slots for promotions, meaning that populous counties with highest number of stagnated teachers will be left out.
He wondered how TSC promoted teachers in marginalized areas in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas who had served for six months leaving those who had worked for 10 years.
“Where is the fairness in that?” he asked, adding that the promotions were opaque, with unions unaware of the metrics used. He urged TSC to call teachers' unions for a meeting to discuss the matter further.
Kuppet has written to TSC calling for a meeting. Mr Nthurima said if the meeting does not materialise, they will resort to alternative methods including seeking a court injunction or demonstrations.
“They just do it [without involving union], then publish it and then say it is fair. How fair is it yet we have teachers all over crying that they have been left out for 10 years,” he added.
The Kuppet official said the promotions were political with areas where the government think they can garner more votes getting more promotion slots.
“There is a lot of interference in the management of teachers currently by politicians. It is very unfortunate for teachers currently because we have seen hawking of employment letters in churches and markets,” he added.
However, Ms Macharia refuted claims that politicians infiltrated the promotions. She said she never attends political meetings.
“Mnajua nyinyi ndio mnaenda hizi vitu za siasa, mimi siendi… You know I read these things through the newspapers and social media. If you go to our website, you will see how teachers are recruited. Sasa nyinyi ndio mko na politicians huko mimi sielewi,” said Ms Macharia.
Ms Macharia said immediately the Kenya Kwanza administration assumed power, the National Assembly passed that TSC recruits teachers from the county level to give everyone a chance.
“When the KK government came in, it passed that we recruit at the county level to give everyone a chance so that the counties compete amongst themselves and ASAL areas which were suffering we get role models from there and we get locals,” he insisted.
