At least 39,017 registered teachers are aged 45 and above but are not yet employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
According to TCS data covering up to June 2025 presented to the National Assembly Committee on Education on Wednesday, the years of birth for teachers who are registered but not employed range from 1966 to 1978.
TSC Acting Chief Executive Eveleen Mitei, who appeared before the committee, was responding to questions raised by Soy MP David Kiplagat on the plight of unemployed teachers aged 45 and above.
“I wish to clarify the fact that the teachers are indicated as unemployed by the commission does not necessarily been that the said teachers are available in the job market. Majority of these teachers have pursued different career paths in the various sectors of our economy including teaching in private schools,” she explained.
The committee's chairman, Tinderet MP Julius Melly, however directed TSC to provide clear data of the 39,017 teachers in two weeks, including their counties and a policy paper on how it would handle the affirmative action if employment opportunities arose, since some of them could have since pursued other interests.
“The fact that you are employers of primary and secondary schools, we do not want Early Childhood Development teachers, give us clear data on those aged 45 and above and are not employed,” he said.
"The aim of the statement sought was to see how we can give affirmative action to get them employed, give us the list of all people in two weeks,” Melly directed.
But Mitei said a framework to solve the affirmative action question, is part of feedback and asked for more time to present it to the commission’s board and then give the committee a response.
TSC acting Chief Executive noted their database shows that out of the 39,017 teachers, only 2,837 disclosed their counties and sub-counties while 36,180 did not provide the information.
“Accordingly, the commission is not able to analyse with accuracy the counties the said teachers hail from. Out of the 2,837, 56 are from Uasin Gishu, 10 from Homa Bay, 8 from Migori and 7 from Nandi,” she said.
She told the committee that during the Financial Year 2024/25, the Commission received a total of 1,264 applications from teachers who are above 45 years of age.
After the recruitment, Mitei said the commission recruited a total of 516 teachers aged between 45 to 59 distributed across the country.
Asked about the effort being made to implement affirmative action to address the plight of teachers aged 45 and above, Mitei made reference to the Employment and Labor Relations Court’s judgment, that declared the cap of 45 years and below as an eligibility criterion during recruitment of teachers as unconstitutional and illegal.
She revealed that TSC has no age limit for purposes of recruitment, currently and to this end, the commission adopted open and merit-based recruitment that allows all registered and qualified teachers to apply regardless of age.
To balance the constitutional requirement of fair competition and merit as the basis of appointment in the public service to accord some advantage to the elderly teachers, she said TSC has had to employ strategies to grant some advantage to the elderly.
Mitei said applicants earn points based on their age, with older candidates receiving higher scores, a situation which ensures that teachers who have waited longer for employment are given a competitive advantage.
Similarly, she explained that teachers who graduated earlier, many of whom are above 45 years, are awarded additional points in recognition of the length of stay since graduation.
“In cases where two or more candidates score equally after all parameters are considered, age is used as a tiebreaker, with preference given to the older applicant,” she said.
To adjust the current recruitment framework, with the aim of discouraging prolonged delays in employment and late entry into the profession, Mitei told the MPs that TSC has been seeking enhanced budget.
“The commission has consistently appealed to the National Assembly for enhanced budget for recruitment of teachers. Recruitment of teachers across the country is premised on the availability of funds and the existence of vacancies in authorized establishments. The Commission has placed its case for more funds to facilitate recruitment of teachers,” she explained.
Mitei explained that the commission has developed a scoring criterion that accords more marks based on age and the year of graduation with the oldest getting more marks, as part of adjusting current recruitment framework.
Owing to the teachers’ numbers, the commission has advised the national government to undertake market driven training for teachers.
“While the commission’s policy framework considers age and year of graduation to mitigate late entry into the profession, it is worth noting that the number of teachers recruited is premised on the budget allocation,” she insisted.
Kiplagat said the aim of seeking the statement was to ensure fairness to some of the teachers who are still hoping they can be employed, as they approach retirement age.
“Let us have an affirmative action so that this hopelessness can be addressed. We need a framework for affirmative action. We need a policy that compels TSC to come up with a framework to give those aged 45 and above an opportunity in the next recruitment,” said Kiplagat.
