Teachers working in hardship areas have sued the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) at the Employment and Labour Relations Court for discriminatory and opaque promotion practices.
The teachers are seeking to block TSC from implementing a controversial decision that excludes them from the promotion cycle that began earlier this year.
The Kenya Teachers in Hardship and Arid Areas Welfare Association claims that TSC violated the rights of about 1,864 teachers serving in hardship areas by arbitrarily excluding many qualified candidates from the list of teachers to be promoted in the 2024-2025 financial year.
The association accuses the commission of unfairly removing the teachers drawn from Samburu, Marsabit, Garissa, Isiolo, Wajir, Lamu, Turkana, Mandera and Tana River counties from the promotion list.
The petition, seen by the Nation, lists the National Assembly and the Attorney-General as the second and third respondents, respectively.
The 1,864 teachers were part of the over 25,000 promotions announced by the TSC in January this year.
Through their advocate Theddaos Okundi, the teachers argue that if implemented, TSC’s decision will result in discrimination.
“The said implementation will result in discrimination against teachers serving in these historically marginalised areas, thereby violating the economic and social rights of the teachers, students and the communities they serve,” the petition reads in part.
They further state that the exclusion is likely to cause irreparable harm, including demoralisation, disruption of public service delivery in arid regions and potential industrial unrest across the affected counties.
“The matter raises substantial constitutional questions of public interest affecting thousands of teachers and vulnerable populations in historically marginalised regions, which require urgent and immediate judicial intervention,” the petition states.
The teachers said their frustrations are compounded by the silence of teachers’ unions, which they accuse of siding with political interests rather than advocating fairness.
“We feel abandoned by unions, by institutions, and by those who should have stood for fairness,” said Mr Anthony Barasa Mabonga on behalf of the affected teachers.
