The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) received 131,734 applications for just 21,313 teacher promotion vacancies, resulting in an oversubscription of over 618 per cent, in what unions say confirms their push for more slots for tutors who have stagnated in one position for years.
The promotion applications, which ran from August 12 to August 25, will see the slots filled once an ongoing process is complete, TSC told the Nation.
“Successful applicants (of the 21,313 promotion slots) will be notified through official TSC channels once the selection processes are concluded,” TSC said in a response to the Nation.
But Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) complained over the slow pace of teacher promotions and the persistent issue of career stagnation among educators.
According to Collins Oyuu, the Knut Secretary General, TSC has been advertising fewer promotion slots than required, leaving tens of thousands of qualified teachers stuck in their current grades.
“Previously, TSC had over 180,000 applicants but promoted only 25,000. Currently, there are 131,000 teachers eligible for promotion, yet only about 21,000 slots are allocated. But even so, that is still a drop in the ocean. This means that the issue of stagnation remains largely unresolved. Stagnated teachers are still waiting for a solution, and the current promotions do not fully address the backlog,” said Mr Oyuu.
Sh1 billion allocated for Promotions
He noted that the government, under the coordination of the President, had approved an additional allocation of Sh1 billion to supplement the initial promotion budget of Sh1 billion, which is expected to double the number of teachers promoted in the next cycle.
However, Mr Oyuu said that even with the additional funding, the measures fall short of addressing the scale of stagnation, which continues to affect thousands of teachers.
The Knut secretary-general traced the stagnation problem to the implementation of the current Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) introduced in February 2014.
In this, he said, teachers with higher qualifications have remained in the same grade for years, especially those not in administrative positions.
“When we talk about the next promotion cycle, we are committed to doing away with the Continuous Professional Growth (CPG) framework, which has caused significant stagnation. Under CPG, some teachers remained in the same grade for over four years, and the old system failed to protect them. Going forward, we will review promotions based on a fairer system outlined in our Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Teachers Service Commission, ensuring that eligible teachers finally move up as they should,” Mr Oyuu said.
Teacher Stagnation Menace
Moses Nthurima, the Kuppet Deputy Secretary General, warned that over 130,000 teachers are stuck in the system, and around 100,000 nearing retirement are still trapped in the same job group.
“The problem we are having is that TSC is advertising fewer slots than needed. Every advertisement falls short of the number of teachers stuck in the system. We have more than 130,000 teachers stuck in stagnation, yet TSC is promoting in bits. As they do it in bits, stagnation persists, and others continue entering the stagnation block,” Mr Nthurima said.
The Kuppet official also raised concerns about teachers approaching retirement who are still trapped in stagnation, estimating that close to 100,000 of them may be affected.
Mr Nthurima suggested that funds for promotions could come from money saved from retired teachers’ posts rather than waiting for new government allocations.
“Those who have stagnated for many years should be promoted first, then the process should move down to those with fewer years. We have teachers who are about to retire and still in the same position, and for a teacher, that is frustrating. The goal should be to clear the backlog and show that the Commission is committed to resolving this issue,” he said.
Teachers’ morale down
He went on: “Delays in promotions and casualisation of teaching are not just administrative issues; they have real consequences on education quality and teacher morale. We will continue advocating for teachers so that stagnation ends and education standards are protected.”
He proposed that funds for promotions should be allocated to address all tutors stagnated in their posts.
“Last time, the President directed about Sh4 billion for teacher promotions. This money should be entirely used to address stagnation instead of waiting for new allocations. This was part of the previous commendation system, which could have been used effectively to clear the backlog,” Mr Nthurima said.
At the same time, TSC also announced the recruitment schedule for 24,000 Junior School Teacher Interns, a crucial initiative aimed at strengthening staffing in Junior Schools nationwide.
The recruitment advertisement closed on September 9, 2025.
The recruitment exercise is scheduled to run from Monday, December 8, to Friday, December 19, with county-level panels conducting the process at the sub-county level.
Prolonged Internship
Mr Oyuu described the current arrangement on the interns as a “stopgap measure” necessitated by funding constraints.
With around 20,000 intern teachers whose contracts end in December, the union is pushing for prompt confirmation of their employment to avoid prolonged casualisation in the profession.
“Allowing these teachers to work as interns, which is not even within the code of regulations, is just a stopgap measure, and we must accept it. These teachers are out there being paid very little, about Sh6,000, despite not being proper interns. We accept this arrangement only as a temporary solution, not because it aligns with the law, but we hope it doesn’t take long before a proper system is put in place,” the Knut official said.
He revealed that the number of trained but unemployed teachers is nearly equal to that of those currently employed, underscoring the necessity of internships to mitigate unemployment among young teachers.
On the issue of interns, Mr Nthurima raised serious concerns over the casualisation of the teaching profession.
“There is no law supporting the employment of interns beyond 12 months. The agreement is that once an intern has served for 12 months, they should be absorbed into permanent employment. The government must stop shifting goalposts. Prolonging internships compromises teacher welfare and the quality of education,” the Kuppet official said.
He went on: “There is no law supporting the employment of interns beyond 12 months. The agreement is that once an intern has served for 12 months, they should be absorbed into permanent employment. The government must stop shifting goalposts. Prolonging internships compromises teacher welfare and the quality of education.”