Education CS Julius Ogamba has addressed the concerns raised by the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) regarding irregular promotions.

Speaking on Sunday at the 60th anniversary of Kereri High School in Kisii, Ogamba refrained from discussing the politics of the Teachers Service Commission’s (TSC’s) alleged irregularities in the practice and maintained that clear parameters are being adhered to for promotions.

Ogomba also added that the commission was independent and was currently in the process of promoting new teachers, as the interviews for these promotions have already been conducted.

He also clarified that promotions come depending on the available spaces and depending on how you perform, promotion is done by TSC as it is an independent body.

The issue of unfair promotion was first raised on January 30 when KUPPET officials expressed concerns over the criteria being used to allocate promotion slots labelling it as unfair and discriminatory.

The officials in a press briefing claimed that the promotion of teachers and distribution of resources across schools in the country was not being done equally across all the counties.

KUPPET’s Secretary General, Moses Nthurima, stated, “want the commission to distribute promotion slots proportionately, meaning that counties with the highest number of teachers should receive the highest number of slots to ensure fairness in terms of distribution”.

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“For that, we are demanding that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) use pro-rata to ensure that teachers are treated equally.”

On Sunday, February 6, KNUT’s First National Vice Chairperson, Malel Lang’at, joined the conversation, terming the promotion of 25,288 teachers as inadequate to address career stagnation and support professional growth across the country.

Langat laid the blame on TSC’s mission aimed at staffing schools in marginalised areas which has turned out to be the cause of inequality in the exercise. Stating that there are many teachers qualified for promotion but the TSC is still sitting on the same even in the recent promotion they promoted the same.