The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has decided to promote 25,252 teachers by relaxing a rule that required them to work for at least three years in one position before being promoted.
They promoted 5,291 teachers who did not meet this three-year requirement, mainly to fill principal and deputy headteacher roles where there weren’t enough qualified candidates. The TSC explained that there were not enough teachers who had served the required three years to fill all the available positions.
This decision followed the National Assembly’s allocation of Sh1 billion for promotions, which only covered 5,690 of the 25,252 available spots. The TSC promoted 1,410 teachers to principal roles and 3,686 to deputy headteacher roles. Only 598 teachers had the required experience for the principal positions, while 7,460 qualified for the deputy headteacher roles.
To solve the shortage, the TSC temporarily reduced the experience requirement to just six months. They said this change was made to attract more applicants and to address the issue of teachers working in temporary roles. This was especially important in areas where it’s hard to recruit and keep teachers.
Out of the 5,291 teachers promoted without the three-year experience, 3,427 were placed in the important roles of principal and deputy headteacher. The TSC asked that all teachers promoted under this temporary rule be kept in their positions, as it was crucial for filling staffing gaps.
Looking ahead, the TSC plans to create and share new promotion guidelines, which will involve input from teachers, unions, and other groups. These new rules will focus on fairness and equality.
There has been some disagreement about the promotion criteria, with some Members of Parliament criticizing the TSC. However, with the TSC’s final decision on promotions, teachers can now relax. Promotion letters are ready to be sent out to counties for the successful teachers to collect. The TSC will also release a final list of promotions after making some adjustments.