Ruto's pledges teacher promotions amid funding and reform questions

President William Ruto arrives for World Teachers’ Day celebrations at Kasarani Gymnasium in Nairobi on October 5, 2026. [PCS]

President William Ruto has unveiled a fresh package of promises to teachers, expanding promotion slots, pledging more funding for career progression and offering measures on housing, healthcare and retirement benefits as the country edges towards the 2027 General Election.

At the centre of the package is a directive to raise the number of teachers to be promoted this year from 34,016 to 50,000, with the President promising additional government funding for the expanded exercise. The announcement gives teachers thousands more opportunities for career progression at a time when many have complained of stagnation in the same job grades.

But the raft of commitments comes against a government facing competing demands on a constrained budget, raising questions over how far the promises can be funded and sustained.

Speaking during World Teachers’ Day celebrations on Monday, the Head of State said his administration had already doubled the budget for teacher promotions from Sh1 billion to Sh2 billion and would provide additional funds to meet the cost of raising the promotion slots to 50,000.

“This year we doubled the budget for teacher promotions from Sh1 billion to Sh2 billion. Third, the Commission has already advertised 34,016 promotion opportunities. Today I am directing that this number be increased to 50,000, and the Government will provide the additional funding to make this possible,” Ruto said.

The announcement comes as a relief for thousands of teachers who have stagnated in the same job grades for years despite gaining experience and additional qualifications.

Ruto noted that 126,462 teachers had already been promoted since his administration came to office, but acknowledged that the pace of promotion had not fully addressed the problem of stagnation.

“Even so, you told me last year that too many of you had remained in one grade for far too long, some for decades,” he said.

The President explained that promotion was part of broader measures to improve teachers’ welfare, including remuneration, career progression, healthcare, housing and retirement benefits.

He also announced progress in reviewing the Career Progression Guidelines, saying consultations between the TSC and teachers’ unions had been completed and the proposals were awaiting approval by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

Teachers during World Teachers’ Day celebrations at Kasarani Gymnasium in Nairobi on October 5, 2026. [PCS]

“I made you three specific commitments: to review the career progression guidelines; to double the teacher promotions budget from Sh1 billion to Sh2 billion; and to promote more teachers every year,” Ruto said.

He added that, according to the SRC chairman, the approval process would be completed within two weeks.

Ruto announced measures to improve teachers’ retirement, saying the Pension Management Information System, launched by TSC and the National Treasury on July 1, 2026, was being rolled out to speed up processing of retirement benefits.

“Within three months, the system would enable teachers to receive their retirement benefits within 10 days of retirement. And after a lifetime of service, retirement must come with dignity,” Ruto said.

President said the number of facilities where teachers could access inpatient care had increased from about 900 to 3,871.

“Your inpatient access rate has doubled, from 7 per cent to 14 per cent. It is now on par with that of other civil servants,” he said.

The government also allocated Sh8.1 billion in the 2026/27 budget to support implementation of the teachers’ CBA, following salary increases introduced in phases.

Ruto further said teachers would have greater access to affordable housing, with 20 per cent of units in government affordable housing developments reserved for them.

A check-off arrangement is being developed to allow teachers to repay housing costs directly through their salaries.

The Head of State revealed that the government was also preparing to review school capitation, whose current rates have remained largely unchanged since 2016. The review will cover allocations for primary, Junior Secondary and secondary schools.

“My instructions to the Ministry of Education and all stakeholders including the TSC is that immediately we finish with the tertiary placement and funding bill, we will embark on reviewing the amount that are required in teaching of our children,” he said.

The President said the review was necessary to ensure schools had adequate resources to deliver quality education.

The government’s wider education agenda also includes continued recruitment of teachers, conversion of 20,000 contract teachers to permanent and pensionable terms from January 2027, and additional investment in teacher capacity-building.

Ruto noted that said more than 220,000 teachers had been retooled to implement the Competency-Based Education system, with Sh952 million allocated for further capacity development.

“The quality of education we provide today will determine the skills we possess tomorrow. Those skills will determine what we can produce, innovate, and export,” Ruto said.

The TSC said the expanded promotion programme would complement other measures aimed at opening more career pathways for teachers.

Commission chairperson Jamleck Muturi said the government had helped recruit more than 100,000 teachers and facilitated the promotion of 126,000 others during Ruto’s four years in office.

Muturi said the commission was also reviewing career progression to provide teachers with opportunities to rise professionally without necessarily becoming administrators.

“We have reviewed our CPG and have a duo pathways where a teacher at D5 can progress to B5 to become a chief principal without being an administrator,” he said.

He said the reforms were intended to create more opportunities for teachers and reduce stagnation, adding that TSC projections showed the number of teachers employed and promoted would continue to grow.

“If in four years the government has employed 100,000 teachers, in eight years we will have 200,000 teachers recruited. In eight years we will have promoted 320,000 teachers,” Muturi said.

The unions, however, used the occasion to press for further reforms beyond the promotion numbers.

KUPPET chairman Omboko Milemba called for the promotion of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers, describing them as “the forgotten teacher”.

He urged the government to consider unemployed P1 teachers aged 45 and above who have remained outside the teaching service despite their training.

“Your interventions, consider the P1 teachers who are over 45 years and not employed,” Milemba said.

He further called for greater administrative autonomy for Junior Secondary Schools, arguing that the current arrangement had created tensions between primary school heads and JSS teachers.

“Granting JSS autonomy will reduce this tension, clarify line of authority and create a harmonious environment for our education and learners,” he said.

Milemba nevertheless commended the government for its expanded teacher recruitment programme, saying it had helped reduce staffing shortages in schools.

“If it were to follow the old model of employing 5,000, it would have taken 25 years to happen,” he said.

KNUT Secretary-General Collins Oyuu also welcomed the progress on promotions but called for a review of the four-year Collective Bargaining Agreement cycle.

He urged the government and TSC to shorten the current CBA cycle, saying teachers had already received the first two phases of the existing agreement.

“The four cycles of CBA, we are happy that successfully TSC has implemented the second phase,” Oyuu said, urging that the agreement be completed at the third phase.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said the government’s increased investment in education was intended to strengthen the sector and support the transition to Competency-Based Education.

“Reforms of this scale bring challenges, and teachers are always at the vanguard in dealing with them,” Ogamba said.

He said teachers remained central to the implementation of the new curriculum and called for their welfare and professional development to remain a priority.

“Standing with teachers means listening to them, investing in them, protecting their dignity and helping them reach their full potential,” he said.

Ogamba also urged parents and communities to share responsibility with teachers in raising children, saying education went beyond classroom instruction to include co-curricular activities, environmental conservation, cohesion, patriotism and nation-building.