President William Ruto has pledged to increase the number of teacher promotions from the current 25,000 to 50,000 annually.

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.

Unlike previous regimes, President Ruto has been consistent in promoting huge number of teachers each year.

Since he took office in 2022 a total of 97,255 teachers have been promoted, the largest to be witnessed in short span.

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 to 97,255.

Approximately 10,000 teachers who had attended the State House meeting hosted by the President, applauded this move which signals an end to perennial stagnation.

Also primary school headteachers through Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha) pushed for their confirmation as Principals.

They sought to be promoted to job group D1 over expanded mandate. The additional responsibility came after they were appointed acting Principals in junior schools.

Adding weight to this move, Knut secretary general, Collins Oyuu asked the President to confirm the headteachers to Principal position.

Oyuu asked the the President the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) which is blamed for mass career stagnation.

Additionally President William Ruto promised to promote all Special Need Education (SNE) teachers by one grade.

Teachers working in special schools and units are now assured of promotion to next grade.

The issue of teacher promotions has been a hot potato as teachers witness their colleagues retiring from service without promotion.

In the August 2025 promotion advert TSC declared 21,313 vacancies for teachers from job group C1 to D4.

Through the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 2025 – 2029 which TSC and teachers unions signed, the Commission had pledged to promote teachers across all cadres at a cost of Sh1 Billion this financial year.

According to the scoresheet it released to guide the promotion exercise, teachers will be promoted largely based on age, year of service in current grade and whether one has acted as school administrator.

In the scoresheet, the Commission has awarded upto 30 marks to teachers based on age.

Those aged 57 years and above will get 30 marks. Teachers aged 52 to 56 years will get 25 marks while those aged below 41 years have been awarded 10 marks.

However the Commission scoresheet has given less consideration to teachers academic and professional certificates .

TSC has awarded a maximum of 3 out of 100 marks to various academic and professional certificates held by teachers.

The Commission has awarded 3 marks to PhD holders, 2 marks to Masters holders, 1 mark to Degree holders and zero marks to those with Diplomas.

Year of service in current grade is also key in this years promotion.

Those who have served for at least seven years in same job group will be awarded 30 marks.

Six, five, four and three years will score 25, 20, 15 and 10 marks respectively according to the promotion scoresheet.

However a teacher must have served for at least three years in current job group for him to be considered except those in ASAL areas who will be promoted on affirmative action.

Teachers who have served as administrators in acting capacity will be given big consideration if they produce evidence of acting.

Below is the scoresheet that TSC published in its 2025 – 2026 promotion guidelines and will be used in the upcoming promotion interviews.

1) ACADEMIC AND PROFFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

PhD – 3Masters – 2Degree – 1Maximum 3 MarksNOTE: Only one, highest qualification, to be awarded

2) TSC (TIMEC/CBC/CEMASTEA County trainers), KNEC (examiners/item developers), KICD (panelist/book evaluator)Maximum 2 Marks

3) ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITY AND LENGTH OF STAY IN CURRENT GRADE

i)Responsibility(Marks awarded for performance of administrative duties – This shall apply to those who are performing duties of Head o Deputy Head Teacher OR had earlier acted as such through deployment by the Commission or BOM)

Maximum 25 Marks

No. of years as administrator	Marks
7 years and above	25
6 Years	22
5 Years	18
4 Years	14
3 Years	10
2 Years	6
6 months (Below 1 year)	2

ii)Length of stay in current grade(Marks awarded for length of stay in current grade)

Maximum 30 Marks

No. of years in grade	Marks
7 year and above	30
6 years	25
5 Years	20
4 Years	15
3 years	10
2 Years	5
6 months – 1 year	3

4) PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

TPAD Rating(Marks awarded for the average Marks in the last 3 years)

Maximum 10 Marks

Rating Scale	TPAD Marks	Marks
5	81% and above	10
4	61% – 80%	8
3	41% – 60%	6
2	21% – 40%	4
1	1% – 20%	2

5) AGE

Age of the teacher

Maximum 30 Marks

Age of Teacher	Marks
57 and above	30
52 to 56 years	25
47 to 51 years	20
42 to 46 years	15
41 years and below	10

TOTAL MARKS 100

LIST OF 21,313 DECLARED PROMOTION VACANCIES FOR TEACHERS

S/ No.	Advert No.	Advert Name	TSC Scale	Grade	Posts
1	3/2025	Chief principal – Regular	D5	15	99
2	4/2025	Chief principal – TTC	D5	15	6
3	5/2025	Senior Principal – Regular	D4	14	490
4	6/2025	Senior Principal – TTC	D4	14	6
5	7/2025	Principal – Regular	D3	13	674
6	8/2025	Principal – SNE	D3	12	2
7	9/2025	Deputy Principal II – Regular	D2	12	971
8	10/2025	Deputy Principal II – TTC	D2	12	15
9	11/2025	Deputy Principal II – SNE	D2	12	4
10	12/2025	Senior Lecturer I – TTC	D2	12	23
11	13/2025	Senior Curriculum Support Officer	D2	12	19
12	14/2025	Curriculum Support Officer I	D1	11	56
13	15/2025	Deputy Principal III – Regular	D1	11	847
14	16/2025	Senior Head Teacher – Regular	D1	11	1,400
15	17/2025	Senior Head Teacher – SNE	D1	11	14
16	18/2025	Senior Lecturer II – TTC	D1	11	44
17	19/2025	Curriculum Support Officer II – Regular	C5	10	111
18	20/2025	Curriculum Support Officer II – SNE	C5	10	134
19	21/2025	Head-Teacher – Regular	C5	10	1,872
20	22/2025	Senior Lecturer III – TTC	C5	10	43
21	23/2025	Senior Master III – Regular	C5	10	737
22	24/2025	Deputy Head-Teacher II – Regular	C4	9	3,547
23	25/2025	Deputy Head-Teacher II – SNE	C4	9	19
24	26/2025	Senior Lecturer IV – TTC	C4	9	59
25	27/2025	Senior Master IV – Regular	C4	9	850
26	28/2025	Senior Master IV – SNE	C4	9	3
27	29/2025	Lecturer I – TTC	C3	8	18
28	30/2025	Secondary Teacher I – (Diploma) Regular	C3	8	994
29	31/2025	Senior Teacher I – Regular	C3	8	3,244
30	32/2025	Senior Teacher I – SNE	C3	8	141
31	33/2025	Senior Teacher II – Regular	C2	7	4,683
32	34/2025	Senior Teacher II – SNE	C2	7	188
TOTAL					21,313

LIST OF DOCUMENTS TEACHERS TO PRESENT DURING PROMOTION INTERVIEWS

Kindly note that the number of documents to present depends on nature of the promotion vacancy. Classroom teacher will have less documents compared to those seeking higher administrative positions.

1) Original Identity Card (ID)

2) Original academic certificates (KCSE, PTE, Diploma and Degree certificates)

3) Letter of appointment to current grade

4) Latest payslip

5) Last promotional letter

6) Letter assigning responsibility of HOI/DHOI

7) Performance appraisal reports (TPAD) for 2022, 2023, 2024

8) Any other testimonials

LIST OF DOCUMENTS TEACHER TO PRESENT AFTER SUCCESSFUL PROMOTION INTERVIEWS

1) Valid Certificate of Good Conduct from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI)

2) Clearance Certificate from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB)

3) Tax Compliance Certificate from Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)

4) Clearance from Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC)

5) A Clearance Certificate from an approved Credit Reference Bureau (CRB)