The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has revealed that only a fraction of the 25,252 promotional vacancies could be filled due to limited funds allocated by Parliament in the 2024/2025 financial year.
In a status report presented to the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Education, the Commission stated that while there were over 25,000 promotional slots nationwide, the Kshs 1 billion provided was only enough to cater for 5,690 teachers.
“As you may recall, the national assembly appropriated Kshs 1 billion for the promotion of teachers. This budgetary allocation could only promote 5,690 teachers,” the report states.
The remaining 19,598 vacancies resulted from natural attrition and other exits within the teaching service during the fiscal year, leaving a staffing vacuum across the country. TSC clarified that these additional slots were not financially supported under the current budget cycle.
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“The balance of 19,598 vacancies arose out of exits from July 2024 1 to June 30, 2025,” TSC explained.
In response to this shortfall, the Commission implemented a prioritisation strategy based on years of service and proximity to retirement. “Priority has been given to teachers who have served for seven years in one grade and have three years to retire from service,” TSC stated.
Despite budgetary limitations, the Commission stated that it had attempted to optimise the available funds by distributing vacancies proportionally across counties, taking into account the number of applicants who had attended promotion interviews.
“In compliance with the Committee’s resolutions, the vacancies… have been redistributed proportionately across the country based on the number of interviewed applicants,” reads the report.
The Commission also reaffirmed its commitment to fairness and accountability by committing to develop standardised promotion guidelines in the future to avoid similar challenges. “The Commission has resolved that going forward, it will develop, publicise and disseminate Promotion Guidelines clearly setting out standardised promotion criteria and procedures.”
The report reflects a delicate balancing act by the Commission—attempting to fulfill the professional growth needs of thousands of teachers while grappling with limited fiscal support from the government.
By Joseph Mambili
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