The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has announced that it will begin a nationwide teachers’ strike on August 14 if the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) fails to promote the remaining 16,000 teachers out of the 50,000 positions that the union says were promised.
The union issued a seven-day ultimatum on Thursday, August 6, warning that failure by the commission to fully implement President William Ruto’s directive would result in industrial action just days before schools reopen for the third term.
KUPPET Secretary General Akello Misori accused the TSC of failing to honour the President’s pledge, noting that the commission has only advertised 34,000 promotion vacancies instead of the promised 50,000.
“The Commission has failed to advertise the full 50,000 promotion vacancies that the President directed on September 13, 2025. If TSC does not rectify this, they will have invited industrial action,” Misori said.
KUPPET National Chairperson Omboko Milemba also criticised the commission, saying teachers had waited nearly a decade for promotions before the President intervened.
He questioned why only 34,000 promotion slots had been advertised despite the public commitment to promote 50,000 teachers.”Promotions had stalled for about 10 years.
When the President directed TSC to promote over 50,000 teachers, we expected the commission to implement the directive fully. Advertising only 34,000 vacancies raises serious concerns,” Milemba stated.
The strike threat comes barely a week after the TSC unveiled one of its biggest recruitment exercises this year, advertising a total of 54,016 teaching vacancies.
The vacancies, announced on July 28, comprise 34,016 promotion opportunities for serving teachers and 20,000 positions for post-primary teachers who will be deployed to Junior Schools.
According to the commission, the recruitment drive is aimed at addressing teacher shortages and supporting the continued implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
KUPPET has however maintained that the advertised promotions fall short of the 50,000 positions publicly promised by President Ruto, leaving 16,000 teachers without the career advancement they had expected.
