Teachers win big as promotion slots doubled to 50,000 in new budget cycle

DICKSON MWITI- KNA

The Deputy President, Prof. Kithure Kindiki, has said the government will promote 50,000 teachers following an improved budgetary allocation in the coming financial year.

Prof. Kindiki assured teachers that their concerns have been factored into the 2026/27 budget to improve their welfare. “In the coming budget, we have set aside funds for teachers’ promotions.

The initial target was 25,000 teachers, but after further consultations with unions, the government will now promote 50,000 teachers,” he said.

During a thanksgiving ceremony of the newly elected KUPPET Meru Branch Executive Secretary Njira Muthomi, the DP said some of the beneficiaries have been stuck in one job level for over 10 years.

“We are doing everything possible to improve teachers’ welfare through better terms of service and increasing their number to reduce the workload of the individual teacher,” he added.

Prof. Kindiki also assured the teachers that their health concerns have been considered and the government would ensure they receive adequate health cover through SHA.

“We need to improve the SHA packages for teachers. We will expedite resolution of issues raised by teachers to ensure their health is assured because it is paramount to have a healthy teacher,” he stated.

“Teachers are the only people who spend most of their time thinking about the welfare of children of other people more than they think about their own. Because of this, we salute you because you are the best examples of sacrifice for others,” he added.

The DP said in the next Financial Year the education sector will receive Sh765 billion up from Sh500 billion in 2022.

Key achievements since 2022, he said, include employment of 100,000 teachers. The DP added that another 20,000 teachers will be employed soon.

Kindiki added the government has also constructed 23,000 classrooms and 1,600 laboratories.

He said a further 3300 tutors have been recruited for the TVET institutions and reforms that have enabled higher enrolment have been rolled out.

He also said they are looking into the requests to make Junior Secondary School independent. “We have heard your requests to make JSS autonomous.

We are going to discuss with various stakeholders to see what we can do as we wait for parliamentary intervention,” he said.