Teachers stage a peaceful demonstration outside Parliament demanding absorption into permanent and pensionable employment, April 27, 2026. /FILEThe third school term could begin on a shaky note after the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) threatened a nationwide strike over what it says is the failure to announce about 16,000 remaining teacher promotions.
The union has issued the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) with a seven-day ultimatum to address its concerns, warning that teachers will down their tools if its demands are not met.
Led by secretary general Akelo Misori and national chairperson Omboko Milemba, Kuppet states that TSC announced the promotion of 34,016 teachers instead of the 50,000 the union says President William Ruto directed should be promoted.
"The Teachers Service Commission must tell us why they have not announced the promotion of 50,000 teachers because that is the directive they were given when we had a meeting with the President," Milemba said.
At a press conference on Thursday, Kuppet said the difference had left about 16,000 teachers without the promotions they had expected.
The union said the issue is particularly significant because the latest promotions came after nearly a decade without a large-scale promotion exercise, leaving many teachers in the same job groups for years.
Kuppet is also concerned about teachers in Job Group D2, who it says have continued serving as school principals in an acting capacity beyond the legally permitted period.
Under the TSC grading structure, Job Group D2, also known as T-Scale 12, comprises teachers serving as Deputy Principal II, Senior Master I or Senior Lecturer I.
Milemba said many of these teachers should have been promoted to Job Group D3, where they would be substantively appointed as principals, but had instead continued serving in acting positions for more than six months.
"When you put a teacher in an acting position beyond six months, you violate Labour guidelines that prohibit workers from acting beyond six months," he said.
Misori warned that if TSC does not implement what the union described as the President's directive within the seven-day deadline, the union will proceed with industrial action that could disrupt learning during the third term.
"If the Teachers Service Commission does not do justice to this, then they are calling back industrial action that we had thought was now behind us. When we now move to involve our teachers in industrial action, it will not serve this country well," Misori said.
President Ruto issued the directive on September 13, 2025, during a meeting with more than 10,000 teacher representatives at State House, Nairobi, after teachers' unions threatened industrial action over a raft of unresolved grievances.
During the meeting, the President said his administration preferred dialogue over confrontation in resolving labour disputes.
"But is there any reason for us to engage in the streets when we can engage at negotiation tables? There is absolutely no reason," he said.
A teachers' strike could have far-reaching consequences, particularly because the third term is the shortest and most critical period of the academic year.
Any prolonged disruption would likely interfere with preparations for national examinations, interrupt the school calendar and increase academic pressure on learners, teachers and parents.
