The September 24, 2025 deadline set by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for verifying P1 teachers shortlisted for the proposed upgrading programme has elapsed, leaving the education sector waiting for the next course of action. The exercise targeted 38,849 teachers and was carried out by Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs) across the country.
During the verification, teachers were required to present their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificates. However, reports from some Sub-counties indicated that officials also demanded additional documents such as TSC registration certificates, identity cards and payslips, despite the Commission having directed that the KCSE certificate alone was sufficient.
According to TSC, only P1 teachers with a KCSE mean grade of C+ and above, including at least a C+ in two teaching subjects, qualify for the upgrading programme. This has raised anxiety among teachers with a mean grade of C plain, who fear being excluded after their names failed to appear on the shortlist despite earlier submissions.
A memo issued on September 18, 2025, revealed anomalies in the initial data submitted to the Commission. These included 2,000 missing teacher records, discrepancies between declared qualifications and TSC’s official registration records and cases where details of some P1 teachers were not collected at all. To address the concerns, Regional and County Directors were directed to countercheck all names, ensure no eligible teachers were omitted, and add new information such as KCSE index numbers and exam years. The corrected data was to be submitted to Dr. Mugwuku Nthamburi, Director of Teacher Professional Management, by the September 24 deadline.
Teachers and stakeholders are keenly awaiting confirmation on whether the Commission has completed processing the data and how it intends to handle the anomalies flagged in the memo. The upgrading programme, which is funded by the World Bank, is scheduled to start in November, 2025 and aims to equip P1 teachers with the skills and competencies required to effectively handle junior secondary school classes.
By Benedict Aoya
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