There is panic across schools as the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) officials start to replace headteachers and Principals in acting capacity who have not been captured in TSC promotion list.
The Commission has published a list containing details of 21,383 teachers who it says have been successfully promoted following October promotion interviews.
The list which is available on TSC website follows interviews that were done in October for both primary and post primary school teachers.
The interviews for primary school teacher applicants ran from 6th to 10th October while that for post primary institutions (secondary and TTC), and Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs) which were to run from 13th to 24th October were later rescheduled to 21st October through Thursday, 23rd October following death of former PM Raila Odinga.
However the fear is imminent as some TSC County Directors have started to post new school heads to schools that were headed by acting school heads.
A number of acting headteachers and Principals in Kilifi, Vihiga, Kwale, Makueni and Mombasa counties have confirmed being replaced after new administrators were posted.
In primary schools a significant number of deputy headteachers in job group C4 who were acting have been replaced.
In some ASAL counties some schools were headed by senior teachers in job group C3 and in extreme cases in grade C2. Many have been replaced.
For secondary schools those who were heading schools in acting capacity and in D1 and D2 job groups have witnessed new management.
The promotions have been criticized by many teachers after the Commission favoured age.
During the promotion interview TSC only invited aged teachers, a paradigm shift from previous interviews.
In the scoresheet teachers promotions were largely based on age, year of service in current grade and whether one acted as school administrator.
Teachers aged 52 to 56 years scored 25 marks, 47 to 51 years got 20 marks while those aged below 41 years scored 10 marks.
The years a teacher served in current grade was also key in this years promotion. Many junior teachers were automatically locked out.
Those who served for at least seven years in same job group were awarded 30 marks.
Six, five, four and three years scored 25, 20, 15 and 10 marks respectively according to the promotion scoresheet.
The promoted teachers will be posted to schools to start their new roles.
The Commission has also unveiled some radical changes that favour teachers promoted to administrative grades.
The changes affect teachers promoted to be Heads of Institutions, Deputy Heads of Institutions, Senior Teachers and Senior Masters.
In the new arrangement, the Commission has now allowed teachers to chose schools they would like to be transferred to upon getting promotion.
The policy shift announced by TSC aims to end the practice of transffering teachers after they gain promotion.
The promoted teachers have the option to work in their current station or chose schools of choice.
Previously teachers were deployed outside their home sub counties which affected them deeply.
Some teachers lost allowances like hardship allowance after being transferred to areas that are not classified as hardship zones by TSC.
This practise also affected teachers families despite the Commission ending delocalization policy.
The changes are captured in new TSC transfer module which was launched on 18th August this year for three month piloting that ended on 18th November.
In this promotion the Commission had shortlisted a total of 64,619 teachers after 131,000 teachers applied for the 21,313 promotion slots advertised in August.
The promotions covered teachers from job group C1 to D4 which also included the Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs).
However the promotion slots are likely to go up next year after a pledge by President William Ruto who committed to increase the number of teacher promotions from the current 25,000 to 50,000 annually.
While speaking during a State House meeting with teachers, Ruto said his government will increase allocation for teacher promotions from sh 1 billion to sh 2 billion yearly.
TSC declared a total of 14,034 teacher promotions in December 2022, 36,275 in September 2023, 25,633 in 2024 and 21,313 in August 2025 bringing the total promotions to 97,255 since President Ruto’s tenure.