Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) chair Omboka Milemba has explained that teachers’ unions and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) have embarked on setting structures to facilitate the promotion of 50,000 teachers.

Speaking during an interview on a local TV station on Wednesday, November 11, 2025, Milemba stated that the meetings will be held in Naivasha, where the union will develop frameworks to move teachers who have stagnated for years without promotion from one grade to another.

 “On Friday, November 14, 2025, we have already written a letter to the Teacher Service Commission. It is in the public domain, and we are meeting in Naivasha to now lay down what are the structured ways in which we shall achieve the promotion of the 50,000 teachers.” Milemba stated

Milemba said that promotions are one of the biggest challenges facing teachers in the country, noting that promotion processes had ceased completely in 2017 and 2018 and were only revived about three years ago.

He explained that this stagnation left many teachers without hope of promotion, and when the process was restarted, Parliament had allocated only Ksh1 billion for promotions, which was insufficient.

According to Milemba, the union approached the Teachers Service Commission to question the remaining funds, taking into account natural attrition such as retirements and deaths among teachers and principals.

He said they had succeeded to some extent, as the commission was able to reallocate those funds, which increased the budget for promotions.

He added that if only the initial Ksh1 billion had been used, it would have promoted just 5,000 teachers, but with the additional funds, 52,000 teachers were promoted.

Milemba, however, acknowledged that challenges remain, as currently only 25,000 teachers can be promoted at a time. He expressed gratitude to the president for supporting the initiative and keeping his promise that 50,000 teachers would be promoted regularly.

The meeting

He further stated that on Friday, November 14, 2025, the union had written a letter to the Teachers Service Commission, which is in the public domain.

Milemba added that the upcoming meeting in Naivasha will establish structured ways to achieve the promotion of 50,000 teachers, including submitting proposals to the Education Committee in Parliament to secure a budget for the process.

Milemba’s remarks come as part of the deliberations following a State House meeting in which teachers from different unions met with the head of state for a lengthy session.