Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Service Commission, Eveleen Mitei, with the award. /HANDOUT
The acting Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Service Commission, Eveleen Mitei, has emerged among the top honourees at the 7th edition of the East Africa Superwoman Awards after clinching multiple continental leadership accolades.
Mitei received the Africa’s Champions Award and the Superwoman Award during the ceremony held in Nairobi. She was also named the Most Impactful Champion in Transformative Leadership in East Africa for 2026.
The regional awards ceremony brought together senior government officials, professionals, policymakers, entrepreneurs and women leaders from across East Africa to celebrate excellence in leadership, governance, innovation and women empowerment.
The recognition places Mitei among the region’s leading women leaders credited with driving institutional transformation, integrity in public service and improved governance within public institutions.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Service Commission, Eveleen Mitei, with the award. /HANDOUT
The award has since been celebrated within the education fraternity, with teachers and stakeholders describing it as recognition not only of Mitei’s leadership but also of the wider teaching profession in Kenya.
At a time when education institutions across Africa are under pressure to modernise systems, embrace technology and improve service delivery, Mitei’s recognition has been viewed as a sign of growing confidence in reforms taking place within the commission.
Speaking during the award presentation, Mitei underscored the importance of integrity in leadership and the growing role of women in senior public offices.
“We are leaders. And leaders of integrity. In my leadership journey, I realised the most important thing for a leader is integrity,” she said.
“And we face so many challenges as women because people believe this is a large workforce, we cannot be led by women, and so on and so forth.”
Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Service Commission, Eveleen Mitei, with the award. /HANDOUT
Mitei also highlighted the commission’s role in safeguarding learners, particularly girls, within schools and through teacher management structures.
“We also play a critical role in protecting our children, especially the girl child, against sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse. As a commission, our teachers are entrusted with managing your girls,” she said.
The acting TSC boss further used the platform to advocate for policies that promote gender parity and inclusive leadership in institutions.
“Push for policies that support women, such as ensuring that there is gender parity. And I will give you an example of the teaching service. In all our policies, we ensure that whatever we do, there is parity,” she said.
According to Mitei, women account for 51 per cent of teachers employed by the commission, compared to 49 per cent men.
“As a commission that manages teachers, which is the largest employer in this country, we manage to push policies and ensure that, in terms of gender, our teachers are 51 to 49,” she said.
“Actually, 51 per cent of our teachers are women, which is a great achievement for this country.”
Mitei has more than 31 years of experience in education management and public service. She began her teaching career in 1994 before joining the TSC secretariat in 1999.
Over the years, she has served in several senior administrative and human resource positions within the commission, including Director of Teacher Discipline Management.
She holds a Master of Science degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Education degree from Moi University.
Education stakeholders have praised her calm but firm leadership style, professionalism, and focus on institutional reforms, teacher welfare and digitisation of teacher management systems.
