- The National Gender and Equality Commission has found that only 2.5 per cent of teachers employed by the TSC have come from marginalised communities.
- The audit has shown that just 1.7 per cent of teachers have been persons with disabilities, far below the constitutional 5 per cent threshold.
- Although women have accounted for 50.2 per cent of the workforce, they have held only 27 per cent of headship positions in public institutions.
Teachers from Kenya’s marginalised communities make up only 2.5 per cent of the country’s public teaching workforce, underscoring persistent disparities in representation despite constitutional guarantees and policy commitments to equality and inclusion.
The findings are contained in the Teachers of Kenya: Status of Equality and Inclusion in the Teaching Workforce in Kenya, 2025 report released by the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) following an audit conducted in June 2025.
The audit assessed teacher appointments across 34,630 public primary schools, junior schools, secondary schools and teachers’ training colleges. It excluded teachers employed by private institutions, county governments and boards of management.
According to the report, only 10,820 of the 425,613 teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) come from marginalised communities, accounting for just 2.5 per cent of the country’s public teaching workforce.
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Teachers living with disabilities make up just 7,399 of the TSC workforce, representing 1.7 per cent of all teachers, well below the constitutional requirement that at least 5 per cent of public appointments be reserved for persons with disabilities.
The report further indicates that although women slightly outnumber men in the teaching profession, they remain underrepresented in leadership positions. While women account for 50.2 per cent of all teachers employed by the TSC, they occupy only 27 per cent of headship positions in public learning institutions.
The audit also shows that teachers aged between 18 and 34 years comprise 31.8 per cent of the workforce, while those aged 35 to 59 years account for the majority at 67.4 per cent.
By Frank Mugwe
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