The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has come under scrutiny for promoting 5,291 unqualified teachers in various parts of the country as deserving tutors stagnate in the same job groups for decades.
While appearing before the National Assembly Education Committee on Tuesday May 20, 2025, lawmakers demanded answers from the Commission regarding the teacher promotion process.
“You have not answered our questions. 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,” asked the Education Committee Chair, Julius Melly, Member of Parliament for Tinderet.
In their submissions, TSC, led by Commission Chair Dr. Jamleck Muturi and outgoing Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia, admitted that 5,291 teachers were promoted despite not meeting the standard three-year minimum in grade.
TSC Admits Hiring Unqualified Teachers
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 to ensure fair opportunities for teachers in all counties, especially those in marginalized and hard-to-staff areas,” TSC explained in its submission.
At the same time, documents submitted by TSC to the Committee regarding teacher promotions, including statistics per sub-county, were dismissed as inadequate and misleading.
“The figures appear skewed. This document falls short. A quick analysis shows that the data favors certain areas disproportionately,” Nabii Nabwera, MP for Lugari, claimed.
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His sentiments were echoed by fellow committee members, including Mary Emaase, Teso South legislator, and Luanda MP Dick Maungu, who brought attention to data inaccuracies and duplication.
Regarding affirmative action, Nancy Macharia submitted that 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.
MPs Decry Unfair Promotion of Teachers in Various Areas
The Committee, however, remained unconvinced. Moiben MP Phylis Bartoo questioned how entire sub-counties saw nearly all their teachers promoted while others had only a few.
She sought to know whether such disparities indicated a lack of schools or teaching staff in those regions, highlighting examples of duplication and misclassification.
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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.
Melly stated, “We cannot have a process where a few teachers are promoted repeatedly while others wait for decades.”
The lawmakers further demanded clarity on policy guidelines.
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