Audit also found that women remain significantly underrepresented in leadership positions despite women making up a slight majority of Kenya's teaching workforce.
Teachers from Kenya's marginalised communities account for just 2.5 per cent of the country's public teaching workforce, highlighting persistent gaps in representation despite constitutional and policy commitments to inclusion.
The finding is contained in the Teachers of Kenya: Status of Equality and Inclusion in the Teaching Workforce in Kenya, 2025 report, released by the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) following an audit conducted in June 2025.
The audit examined teacher appointments across 34,630 public primary schools, junior schools, secondary schools and teachers' training colleges.
The exercise did not include teachers working in private institutions, county governments or under boards of management.
The audit found that of the 425,613 teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), only 10,820 are from marginalised communities, representing 2.5 per cent of the workforce.
In comparison, teachers living with disabilities account for 7,399, or 1.7 per cent, falling well below the constitutional requirement that at least 5 per cent of public appointments be reserved for persons with disabilities.
The report also shows that while women slightly outnumber men in the teaching profession, special interest groups remain underrepresented in leadership positions.
Women account for 50.2 per cent of all TSC teachers but hold only 27 per cent of headship positions across public learning institutions.
According to the audit, young teachers aged between 18 and 34 years constitute 31.8 per cent of the teaching workforce, while those aged between 35 and 59 years account for 67.4 per cent.
Teachers aged 60 years and above make up just 0.8 per cent.
NGEC said the audit sought to establish the status of equality and inclusion within the teaching workforce by examining representation based on gender, age, disability and marginalisation across primary schools, junior schools, secondary schools and teachers' training colleges.
The findings, it said, are intended to guide policy reforms and strengthen accountability in the education sector.
TSC said the report would provide a basis for future interventions to improve diversity within the profession.
"Findings from the audit will inform policy refinement, strengthen institutional accountability and support targeted interventions aimed at enhancing equitable representation, participation and advancement of special interest groups within the teaching profession."
