The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is facing a big challenge in recruiting and promoting teachers to address staffing shortage in junior secondary schools (JSS) across Kenya. With thousands of vacancies and rigorous qualification requirements, many teachers are struggling to meet the deployment criteria. This article will give you the latest updates on TSC teacher promotions and the ongoing efforts to staff JSS.
TSC Teacher Promotions 2025: Key Points
In January and February 2025, TSC conducted teacher promotion interviews across the country. For the first time, sports certificates were not counted in the scoring criteria, and many games teachers have since protested the decision. Instead, the Commission awarded points to teachers who have supervised and marked national exams.
TSC announced 25,288 promotion slots for both primary and post primary teachers and received over 189,000 applications. The selection process was based on key areas such as academic qualifications, length of stay in the current job group, Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) ratings and age.
Here is the TSC promotion scorecard:
- Academic Qualification
- Master’s – 5 Marks
- Degree – 3 Marks
- Diploma – 1 Mark
- Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) Examiner Experience – 4 Marks
- Length of Stay in Current Job Group
- 7 years and above – 50 Marks
- 6 years – 40 Marks
- 5 years – 30 Marks
- 4 years – 20 Marks
- 3 years – 10 Marks
- TPAD Rating
- 81+ – 10 Marks
- 61-80 – 8 Marks
- 41-60 – 6 Marks
- 21-40 – 4 Marks
- 1-20 – 2 Marks
- Age Factor
- 55+ years – 30 Marks
- 50-54 years – 26 Marks
- 45-49 years – 22 Marks
- 40-44 years – 18 Marks
- 30-39 years – 14 Marks
Successful candidates will receive their promotion letters in April 2025 while unsuccessful applicants will receive regret letters.
Junior Secondary School (JSS) Staffing Shortage
TSC is failing to meet its target of deploying 6,000 primary school teachers to JSS by April 2025. Despite keeping the application portal open for 66 days, the response has been dismal and the Commission is now considering relaxing the qualification requirements.
Current TSC JSS Teacher Deployment Criteria
To be deployed to JSS, a primary school teacher must:
- Be a registered teacher with TSC
- Be actively employed as a primary school teacher
- Not be under interdiction or disciplinary action
- Have a Diploma or Degree in Education with at least C+ at KCSE and C+ in two teaching subjects
- Have at least 8 units in each of the two teaching subjects
- Have a Bachelor of Education degree (Primary Education degree holders are not eligible)
Teacher Shortage Crisis in JSS
TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia said JSS requires 72,422 teachers to fill the staffing gap. The Commission has so far recruited 76,928 JSS teachers covering only 51.5% of the requirement.
To address this crisis, TSC has:
- Employed 20,000 JSS intern teachers using a Ksh 4.8 billion allocation
- Deployed 8,378 P1 teachers to JSS since 2023
- Will recruit 18,000 additional JSS intern teachers in December 2025
- Retooled 229,292 teachers on the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) since April 2019
JSS Teacher Deployment Challenges
Despite the efforts, we still have the following challenges:
- Academic Requirements: Many primary school teachers don’t meet the C+ requirement despite having diplomas and degrees.
- Low Turnout: Even with extended deadlines the TSC portal has seen very few applications.
- Subject Shortages: JSS is short of teachers for subjects like Music, Art and Craft and Physical Education which many P1 teachers are trained in but are not considered under TSC current requirements.
- Geographical Placement: TSC is deploying teachers based on proximity to their current schools but some areas still have critical shortage.
Way Forward: Call for Policy Review
KNUT has urged TSC to review its academic requirements. Instead of enforcing strict standards KNUT proposes retrofitting primary school teachers to equip them with skills for JSS teaching.
Solutions:
- Lower the C+ requirement to allow more primary school teachers to transition.
- Expand subject recognition to include Arts, Music and PE.
- Offer incentives like salary increments for JSS teachers.
- Increase training programs for primary teachers to specialize in JSS subjects.
Conclusion
TSC teacher promotions and JSS staffing crisis shows we need to address Kenya’s education sector challenges strategically. While promotions offer career growth for teachers the JSS staffing shortage needs urgent attention. TSC must strike a balance between maintaining education standards and having enough teachers to meet the new curriculum demands.
