New CPG Ends Forced Move Into Administration, TSC Commissioner Oyucho Declares
For countless educators across Kenya, advancing in the profession has long felt like an exercise in patience. After meeting the qualifications and receiving a posting, many remain stuck in the same grade for years, with progression hinging more on the availability of administrative openings than on classroom performance. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) now insists that era is coming to a close.
Speaking on Thursday at Kit-Mikayi in Seme Constituency during Nyanza’s regional World Teachers’ Day celebrations, TSC Commissioner Timon Oyucho said the new Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) repeal the 2018 framework and will take effect in July 2027.
Classroom teachers, he said, will be able to rise to the rank of chief principal without ever leaving the classroom.
The announcement lands days before President William Ruto meets teachers at Kasarani, Nairobi, on Monday 5 October 2026 for the national World Teachers Day celebrations.
Teachers are hoping he will address the matter and give it a final say, as he promised after meeting them at State House last year.
The one thing that could still complicate the picture is the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and its growing concern about the public wage bill.
This article draws on the TSC’s published highlights of the proposed Career Progression Guidelines, and on the Commissioner’s remarks.
What the Commissioner said
Oyucho’s remarks were unusually direct. “We shall have a classroom teacher having the grade of the chief principal in the same school with a chief principal,” he said.
He added that the administrator who is a chief principal and the classroom teacher who is a chief principal “shall earn the same salary.”
The only difference, he explained, will be an administrative allowance that does not count toward retirement benefits.
“The two teachers shall retire at the same level in terms of salary and therefore shall carry home the same retirement package,” he said.
Several other points followed:
- Heads of institutions become principals. All will be redesignated as principals from 1 July 2027, in line with the next financial year, and primary school heads will now be called principals.
- Principals start at Teacher ‘Grade’ 3. In his words, all principals “shall start from teacher three, all of them across the country.”
- Separate advertisements. The Commission will advertise vacancies for administrators and classroom teachers separately.
- A genuine choice. Teachers can compete for administrative vacancies or remain in the classroom and be promoted “the entire distance without involving yourself with administration.”
He also said the aim is to identify “the potential in every teacher” and promote that teacher all the way, and he hinted that awards given at World Teachers Day events could translate into commensurate promotions.
Why the 2018 guidelines are under fire
The 2018 CPG was built on the 2016 Job Evaluation cycle, which mapped teaching jobs onto a ladder running from T-Scale 5 for a Primary Teacher II to T-Scale 15 for a Chief Principal. In between sat a thicket of titles: Senior Master I to IV, Deputy Principal I to III, Senior Lecturer I to IV and more.
The Commission itself lists the problems this created: pay disparities between teachers, administrators and curriculum support officers; difficulty aligning school categories with the remuneration structure; unequal treatment of teachers with similar qualifications; a “taller scale structure” that lengthens the time needed to grow; and the mixing of professional and administrative work.
The last two drove stagnation. A tall ladder forces a teacher to clear many hurdles, each demanding years of service and often a vacancy.
And because senior grades were tied to administrative titles, a classroom teacher who wanted to progress was pushed towards management whether or not they wanted it.
What the new CPG proposes
Two tracks instead of one. This is the change the Commissioner emphasised. Every grade is called “Teacher” followed by a number, with Teacher 1 at the top. Each grade has an administrative meaning (in primary, Teacher 3 corresponds to Principal, Teacher 2 to Senior Principal and Teacher 1 to Chief Principal) and a classroom growth meaning for teachers who stay in the classroom. The grade, not the administrative title, becomes the measure of standing.
A shorter ladder. Career levels across all categories fall from 56 to 43:
| Category | Current levels | Proposed levels |
|---|---|---|
| Primary (regular) | 8 | 6 |
| Primary (SNE) | 5 | 5 |
| Junior and Senior School | 9 | 7 |
| Secondary (SNE) | 9 | 6 |
| Teacher Training Colleges | 10 | 7 |
| KISE and KLB | 7 | 6 |
| Curriculum Support Officers (regular) | 4 | 3 |
| Curriculum Support Officers (SNE) | 4 | 3 |
| Total | 56 | 43 |
Merit at the top. The proposal distinguishes “common cadre” grades, through which teachers progress together, from “competitive” grades. In primary, Teachers 9, 8 and 7 are entry or common-cadre grades, while Teachers 6 down to 1 are competitive.
In secondary, the common cadre covers Teachers 8, 7 and 6, with competition from Teacher 5 upwards. The criteria for competing have not been published.
Entry by qualification. Primary teachers with a PTE certificate enter at Teacher 9 and diploma holders (DPTE or DTE PP&P) at Teacher 8. In secondary, diploma holders enter at Teacher 8 and degree holders at Teacher 7. Graduates at the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) enter at Teacher 6.
Where serving teachers would land
In secondary, Secondary Teacher 3 becomes Teacher 8, Secondary Teacher 2 becomes Teacher 7, and Secondary Teacher 1 becomes Teacher 6. Senior Masters 3 and 4 move to Teacher 5, while Deputy Principals 2 and 3 and Senior Masters 1 and 2 merge into Teacher 4.
Principals and Deputy Principals 1 become Teacher 3, which matches the Commissioner’s statement that principals start at that grade.
In primary, Primary Teacher 2 becomes Teacher 9 and Primary Teacher 1 becomes Teacher 8. Senior Teachers 1 and 2 merge into Teacher 7, Deputy Headteachers 2 become Teacher 6, Headteachers and Deputy Headteachers 1 become Teacher 5, and Senior Headteachers become Teacher 4.
The Commissioner’s remark that primary heads will now be called principals fits the new structure, which lists Principal, Senior Principal and Chief Principal posts in primary where today’s mapping shows none.
The road to July 2027
The date matters because the Commission’s own timeline has five steps after approval of the CPG:
- TSC submits the approved CPG, with job descriptions, to the SRC for Job Evaluation.
- The SRC and TSC conduct the Job Evaluation jointly.
- Clinics are held on the results.
- The SRC and the National Treasury communicate the results and their financial implications to TSC.
- TSC publishes the results to teachers.
Only at the end of that sequence will teachers see their placement and what each grade pays. The Commissioner’s 1 July 2027 date, aligned with the new financial year, leaves roughly nine months from now. Earlier reports had pointed to 2028, so the 2027 date reflects a firmer and faster commitment from the Commission.
The President and the promise
All eyes now turn to Kasarani. President Ruto is due to meet teachers on Monday 5 October 2026 for the World Teachers Day celebrations, where teachers will also be recognised for their impact on education.
Teachers remember that he promised them a resolution after meeting them at State House last year, and many hope he will use the occasion to address the new CPG and give it a final say.
A presidential endorsement would carry real weight. It would signal to the SRC and the National Treasury that the reform has the backing of the highest office, and it would help hold the 2027 timeline in place.
A silence, by contrast, would leave the question where it is: a Commission commitment still awaiting the approval of other institutions.
The wage bill shadow
That is where the SRC comes in. The Commission has warned against a ballooning wage bill and has recently suspended new salaries and benefits for some civil servants, particularly county officials, causing uproar.
TSC is the largest employer in the public service, and every grade merger, every new senior post and every promotion adds to the bill.
The Commissioner’s promise is costly by design. A classroom teacher who reaches chief principal grade earns the same salary as an administrator at that grade and retires with the same package.
The administrative allowance, which is excluded from retirement benefits, helps contain the cost of administration, but the core salary commitment is substantial.
If the SRC treats the wage bill as the overriding concern, outcomes could include:
- Phased implementation, spreading the gains across several financial years through a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
- Tighter limits on competitive posts, so merit-based promotion exists but reaches fewer teachers.
- Conservative grading, placing new grades lower on the pay scale.
- Delay, if funds are not available when the Job Evaluation results arrive.
None of this has been announced, and the SRC has not said the teachers’ CPG will be affected. But given its stance on public pay, teachers should expect a hard negotiation, not a formality.
What teachers should watch
- Pay. What will each grade pay, and will anyone’s earnings stagnate or fall in the merger of grades?
- Time in grade. Is there a minimum period before moving up?
- Competition rules. What are the criteria for competitive grades, who decides, and how can decisions be appealed?
- Number of posts. How many classroom chief principal positions will exist? Equal pay is meaningful only if posts are available.
- Transition. How will serving teachers be placed, and will anyone be disadvantaged?
- Ceilings. Can diploma holders compete for the higher grades, given the common cadre stops at Teacher 7 for them?
- The numbers. The summary shows primary regular dropping from eight levels to six, yet the detailed structure lists nine primary grades. Secondary shows eight grades against a Junior and Senior School figure of seven. These need reconciling.
Hope, with open eyes
The Commissioner’s message is the clearest signal yet that TSC intends to end the era in which a teacher had to leave the classroom to advance. Equal pay and equal pensions for classroom and administrative chief principals would be a genuine break from the past, and separate advertisements would make the two paths real.
But promises become pay rises only through the Job Evaluation and the approval of the SRC and the National Treasury. Between now and July 2027 lie public participation, approval, a joint evaluation and a negotiation with a wage-bill-conscious SRC.
Teachers are right to be hopeful, and Monday’s meeting with the President may help. They should also insist on clear criteria, transparent timelines and written commitments, because a promise made at a podium is only as strong as the budget behind it.
