Nancy Macharia finally steps down from TSC after a decade

Dr Nancy Macharia, the Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Service Commission, has begun a one-month terminal leave ahead of her retirement on June 30, 2025.

The commission has appointed Evaleen Mitei as the acting CEO while the search for a permanent replacement commences. In an internal memo dated June 1, Dr Macharia expressed her gratitude to the TSC community for their support during her tenure. “I am proceeding on terminal leave with effect from today, June 1, 2025, pending my retirement from the Teachers Service Commission on June 30, 2025,” she said.

Dr Macharia’s decade-long tenure has come to an end, marking either the conclusion of an era or the end of an error. Since taking over in 2015 from Gabriel Lengoiboni, she has overseen reforms and transformations within Kenya’s education sector.

Macharia is hailed as a reformist who brought structure and accountability to teacher management. Her time at TSC reshaped the teaching profession, streamlining systems, expanding recruitment and boosting efficiency.

Under her leadership, over 100,000 teachers were employed, helping address staffing shortages across schools. Two Collective Bargaining Agreements were negotiated and implemented. The TSC introduced automated promotions, resulting in 168,389 teachers in lower job groups receiving upward mobility after three years of satisfactory service.

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Another 73,902 teachers earned competitive promotions through the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs).

Macharia also oversaw the implementation of digital systems, including a feature on the TSC portal that allowed teachers to leave unions directly, accelerating administrative efficiency and shifting power dynamics in union-employer relations.

As she transitions into the next chapter of her professional life, Dr. Macharia expressed heartfelt gratitude for the journey and the accomplishments achieved together.

“As I transition into the next chapter of my professional life, I have been reflecting on the solid and firm foundation that we have built together, and honestly, I leave with a heart full of profound gratitude for everything we have accomplished,” she added.

Despite these milestones, Macharia’s tenure was dogged by controversies which fractured long-standing union relations. This triggered mass protests and left many educators questioning whether the reforms truly served their interests.

The 2017 signing of the Sh54 billion CBA between TSC and both teachers' unions of KNUT and KUPPET spiralled into turmoil. The unions accused Macharia of weaponising the deal to introduce punitive policies.

Key policies that triggered backlash included Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs): Meant to streamline promotions, they were criticised for sidelining long-serving teachers and complicating advancement for those without specific training modules. Others were Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD), which intended to retrain teachers and ensure accountability. The program was widely perceived as overly bureaucratic.

Teachers had to pay Sh6,000 annually for retraining and renewing their practice certificate every five years—an expensive and time-consuming process. A 2019 court ruling invalidated the CPG for KNUT members, but Macharia retaliated by excluding those teachers from pay increments.

This move affected 103,624 tutors, creating a deep rift between the employer and unionised teachers. Salaries for non-union members were adjusted upward while unionised staff remained stagnant.

The TSC further escalated the battle by threatening to recover benefits paid to KNUT members since 2017, prompting mass defections from the union. A new TSC portal feature allowed teachers to opt out of KNUT with a click, leading to over 150,000 teachers quitting the union.

The 52-year-old recognition agreement between TSC and KNUT effectively crumbled, weakening KNUT’s bargaining power.

In 2020, TSC deregistered Knut boss Wilson Sossion, rendering him ineligible to serve as union secretary-general and sparking internal KNUT disputes that would eventually contribute to his ouster.

Another major policy flashpoint was the 2018 delocalisation initiative, which saw headteachers and principals transferred across counties.

The aim, TSC argued, was to promote national cohesion and curb regional favouritism. But the fallout was swift and painful.

Teachers were separated from their families, with some school communities violently rejecting new headteachers.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) eventually called for the policy’s overhaul, describing it as a demoralising disruption.

While some hail Dr Macharia for modernising the TSC and pushing for a more structured teaching profession, others see her tenure as one that eroded morale, weakened unions, and undermined trust between teachers and their employer.

Despite facing numerous challenges, many of which were contentious, Macharia reflected on her tenure with pride.

“We have been able to navigate several challenges and achieve significant milestones in transforming the teaching service and enhancing service delivery to our stakeholders,” she said.

She urged the teachers and staff across the country to extend the same support to her successor that they provided during her leadership for the continued success of the Commission.

“I am confident that you will accord my successor, the management and the commission’s board the necessary support in steering the commission to even greater heights,” she added.

Macharia was the first woman to lead the TSC in its independent form. She rose through the ranks from teacher to Director of Teacher Management, introducing sweeping reforms that redefined teacher management.