MPS put TSC on the spot over teacher promotions, demands transparency and equity 

Parliament Buildings 
Tuesday, May 20th 2025

Members of Parliament have demanded answers from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) over the teacher promotion process

Led by Committee Chairperson, Hon. Julius Melly, the National Assembly Education Committee Members expressed dissatisfaction with the submissions made by TSC, accusing the Commission of failing to provide crucial data and disregarding equity principles in its promotion processes.

“You have not answered our questions,” Hon. Melly told TSC officials. “What this Committee and the teachers want is a comprehensive three-year promotional data set, including the list of all teachers interviewed, their scores, and interview outcomes, as well as a list of those promoted in the current cycle who were also promoted in the last three years—with data on age, gender, and ethnicity.”

Documents submitted by TSC included statistics per sub-county, were dismissed as inadequate and misleading. “The figures appear skewed,” observed Hon. Nabii Nabwera. “This document falls short. A quick analysis shows that the data favors certain areas disproportionately.”

Hon. Mary Emaase and Hon. Dick Maungu echoed these sentiments, bringing attention to data inaccuracies and duplication.

The TSC delegation was led by Commission Chair Dr. Jamleck Muturi, CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia, and Director for Legal, Labour and Industrial Relations, Mr. Cavin Anyuor.

TSC Commission Chair, Dr. Muturi admitted, “Some job groups do not attract interest,” and defended the Commission’s actions as necessary to manage staffing gaps and historical imbalances.

In their submissions TSC admitted that 5,291 teachers were promoted despite not meeting the standard three-year minimum in grade. The Commission cited a lack of qualified applicants in some counties and invoked affirmative action to justify a waiver—lowering the requirement to as little as six months.

“The reduction was necessary,” TSC explained in its submission, “to ensure fair opportunities for teachers in all counties, especially those in marginalized and hard-to-staff areas.”

On affirmative action, CEO, Dr. Nancy Macharia submitted it had met gender and disability thresholds, citing 47.04% of promotions going to female teachers and over 1,200 persons with disabilities (PWDs) promoted. 

The Committee, however, was unconvinced. Hon. Phylis Bartoo, questioned how entire sub-counties saw nearly all their teachers promoted while others had only a few. She asked whether such disparities indicated a lack of schools or teaching staff in those regions.

 highlighting examples of duplication and misclassification. She cited Busia County's listing of 'Busia' as a sub-county as a significant error, arguing that such mistakes undermined the credibility of the overall analysis.

Hon. Melly said, “We cannot have a process where a few teachers are promoted repeatedly while others wait for decades.”

Lawmakers demanded clarity on policy guidelines. “We want a promotion system anchored in law, equity, and transparency,” said Hon. JuliusTaitumu.

Legal Director Calvin Anyuor attempted to assure the Committee that a full list of names had been shared in soft copy, but MPs pressed for verifiable, disaggregated records backed by comprehensive analysis.

The Education Committee has directed the Teachers Service Commission to appear again in seven days with full documentation including data on interview results recorded at the sub-county level, length of service in current positions for both promoted and non-promoted teachers and an analysis of promotions disaggregated by sub-county, ethnicity, gender, age, and disability status.