- Adrine Muriuki highlights reforms and policy discussions that have marked Evaleen Mitei’s acting tenure at TSC.
- She argues that career progression, digitisation, staffing and teacher welfare have remained central to Mitei’s leadership.
- The ongoing review of teachers’ and CSOs’ career guidelines could significantly shape professional advancement within the service.
Leadership is ultimately measured by what changes when a leader takes charge. At the Teachers Service Commission, the period since Evaleen Mitei assumed the role of Acting Commission Secretary/CEO has been marked by movement, reform and a renewed focus on the people at the heart of Kenya’s education system—the teachers.
When Mitei stepped into the leadership of TSC in June 2025, she brought with her something that cannot be acquired overnight: decades of institutional experience. She joined the Commission as a teacher and later served in key roles including staffing, human-resource management and teacher discipline before rising to the position she holds today.
She therefore did not walk into TSC as a stranger. She walked in knowing the classroom, understanding the teacher and knowing the machinery of the Commission from the inside out.
An acting position can easily become an excuse for maintaining the status quo. Mitei’s record, however, has been associated with efforts to keep the Commission moving while tackling long-standing challenges.
Her administration has been associated with continued digitisation of teacher services, online transfer processes and efforts to make the management of teachers more responsive.
For teachers, these are not simply technological or administrative changes. They can mean fewer bureaucratic hurdles, faster access to services and a more efficient relationship between teachers and their employer.
TSC currently operates a range of digital services covering teacher registration, transfers, performance appraisal, payslips, posting and other teacher-management functions.
A major milestone: reviewing the CPGs
One of the most closely watched developments under Mitei’s stewardship is the ongoing review of the Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs) for teachers and Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs).
This is particularly significant because career progression goes to the heart of professional motivation within the teaching service.
The review of the CPGs is expected to provide a clearer and more responsive framework for career growth, taking into account the changing roles and responsibilities of teachers and CSOs.
For thousands of education professionals who have been seeking greater clarity on career progression, the development represents more than a policy exercise. It is about opening pathways for professional growth, recognising experience and ensuring that career advancement keeps pace with the changing demands of education.
The review process is ongoing, and any eventual implementation of revised guidelines will therefore be an important test of the Commission’s commitment to resolving longstanding questions surrounding career progression.
And this is where Mitei’s leadership comes into sharp focus.
Rather than allowing the issue to remain indefinitely on the policy table, her administration has kept the review process moving.
For teachers and CSOs, the message is significant: their careers, professional development and aspirations remain part of the Commission’s reform agenda.
Career progression has for years been among the most sensitive issues within the teaching profession.
The review of the existing CPG framework therefore has the potential to address some of the challenges that have emerged since the guidelines were introduced.
The goal is not merely to create new titles or structures. It is to establish a framework that can better align professional growth with qualifications, experience, responsibilities and the evolving needs of Kenya’s education system.
A teacher who sees a pathway for advancement has a stronger incentive to continue developing professionally and giving their best to learners.
That is why the review of the CPGs for teachers and CSOs could become one of the defining milestones of this period at TSC.
Putting more teachers where they are needed
Teacher shortages have remained one of the biggest challenges facing Kenya’s education system, particularly during the transition to new education structures.
TSC has continued recruitment and staffing initiatives aimed at addressing gaps in schools.
Every teacher deployed to a school represents a classroom better supported, a workload potentially reduced and a learner given greater access to professional instruction.
Mitei’s tenure has also coincided with major discussions surrounding teacher welfare, including medical cover, collective bargaining, career growth and working conditions.
These are complex issues with financial, legal and policy dimensions. But the direction is significant: teacher welfare has remained central to the conversation at TSC.
Engagement with teachers’ unions and other stakeholders remains crucial in addressing issues affecting remuneration, promotions, career growth and working conditions.
Mitei’s background in teacher discipline has also shaped her leadership.
Before becoming Acting CEO, she served as Director of Teacher Discipline Management—a position requiring difficult decisions, procedural fairness and a firm understanding of professional standards.
Her leadership therefore brings together two sides of the teaching profession: the welfare of teachers and the responsibility that comes with being entrusted with the education of Kenya’s children.
A strong teaching service needs both an employer that listens to its teachers and a profession that maintains high standards.
The Mitei difference
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Mitei’s leadership is not one individual initiative. It is the combination of experience, institutional knowledge, reform, engagement and determination.
She understands what it means to stand before a classroom.
She understands what it means to manage teachers.
She understands the machinery of TSC.
And now, from the CEO’s office, she is using that experience to confront some of the issues that have frustrated teachers for years.
The ongoing work on the Teachers and CSOs Career Progression Guidelines is a particularly important example. If successfully concluded and implemented, the framework could provide greater clarity and new opportunities for professional advancement across the teaching service.
The transformation of an institution as large and consequential as TSC cannot happen overnight. It requires sustained reforms, adequate resources, effective implementation and accountability for results.
But one thing is increasingly difficult to overlook: Mitei has not treated her acting tenure as a reason to sit back and wait.
She has used the opportunity to push conversations on career progression, teacher welfare, digitisation, staffing, professional standards and service delivery.
The ongoing review of the CPGs for teachers and CSOs adds another important dimension to that reform agenda.
The zeal is evident. The experience is undeniable. The reforms are underway. And as the Commission moves towards completing the career progression review, teachers and CSOs are watching with renewed expectation.
The challenge now is to turn this momentum into lasting institutional change.
Evaleen Mitei’s story at TSC is therefore not simply about occupying the CEO’s office. It is about using that office to keep an institution moving, address difficult questions and create a teaching service that works better for both educators and learners.
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The journey continues—and the next chapter may be written through the successful implementation of reforms that directly touch the careers and lives of Kenya’s teachers and CSOs.
By Adrine Muriuki
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