Teachers serving in arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) and hardship areas under their umbrella body of Kenya Teachers in Hardship and Arid Areas Welfare Association (KETHAWA) have now moved to court to sue Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for removing a total of 1,864 teachers from the previous promotional list.
The teachers, through a petition filed by Daniel Ndung’u (Wangonya) Wangenye who is KETHAWA National Secretary, want the court to stop TSC from implementing the decision contained in a report titled Status Report on the Resolution of the Departmental Committee on Education Regarding Teachers’ Promotions dated May 22, 2025 which indicated that TSC has removed a total of 1,864 teachers from hardship and arid areas from its promotion list until the petition is heard and determined.
At the same time, the teachers also want the court to compel TSC to issue letters of promotion to the 1,864 teachers who had been removed from the promotion list, with the tutors arguing that the resolutions to remove them from promotional list was conducted without meaningful stakeholders involvement, public participation, contrary to Article 10 of the Constitution.
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They also assert that the implementation of the said report would result in 1,864 teachers from hardship and arid areas who applied for promotions, shortlisted, interviewed, and qualified and their names and TSC numbers published in the promotion list miss the promotion letters thus violating Articles 27, 41, 43, 47 and 56 of the Constitution.
According to the teachers in their petition, the 1,864 teachers removed from the promotion list by TSC works in hardship and arid areas from nine counties of Samburu, Mandera, Garissa, Wajir, Lamu, Isiolo, Tana River, Turkana and Marsabit and isolating and discriminating them from promotion, will result to blatant violation of their constitutional rights.
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The teachers now state that unless the court intervenes, there is a real danger that the rights and legitimate expectations of affected teachers, students and communities from the stated hardship and arid areas will be irreparably violated, adding that the report lacks transparent criteria, scientific justification, or proper baseline data, and appears to be arbitrary and capricious.
“Kenya, as a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and relevant ILO Conventions, has a duty not to undertake retrogressive measures that impair existing socio-economic protections,” read the petition in part.
By Roy Hezron
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