The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has signed a landmark Ksh33.75 billion Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with three teachers’ unions, setting in motion salary increases of between 5% and 29.6% for public school teachers across Kenya. The four-year deal, covering the period 2025 to 2029, was concluded with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), and the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET), with increments backdated to take effect from July 1, 2025.
The agreement averted a potentially disruptive nationwide strike that KNUT had threatened after issuing a seven-day notice in early July 2025. The union had cited stalled wage negotiations as the trigger for the planned action, raising fears that millions of learners would be sent home just as the second term got underway. The timely conclusion of talks between TSC officials and union representatives prevented what would have been a significant blow to Kenya’s academic calendar and the credibility of the public education system.
Under the terms of the CBA, lower-cadre primary school teachers stand to gain the most from the deal, with some in the lowest salary bands receiving rises of up to 29.6%. The increments are structured to progressively narrow the wage gap between entry-level and senior educators, a long-standing source of grievance within the profession. Teachers at higher grades and those in secondary schools will also benefit, though at more modest rates, with increases starting from 5% at the upper end of the pay scale.
Kenya’s public school system employs hundreds of thousands of teachers managed by the TSC, a constitutional body mandated to recruit, post, promote, and discipline educators across the country. Collective bargaining agreements between the commission and teachers’ unions have historically been flashpoints in the sector, with past negotiations sometimes collapsing into prolonged strikes that disrupted learning for millions of pupils. The 2025-2029 CBA builds on a series of previous agreements and reflects the government’s stated commitment to improving the welfare of the teaching workforce, which forms the backbone of Kenya’s education system.
The successful conclusion of the deal is expected to boost teacher morale and reduce the industrial unrest that has periodically undermined learning outcomes in Kenyan public schools. Education sector analysts note that sustained pay improvements are critical to attracting and retaining skilled educators, particularly in rural and underserved counties where classroom vacancies have historically been difficult to fill. With the agreement locked in for four years, both the government and the unions will be hoping it delivers the stability needed to shift focus toward broader national goals, including raising examination performance and expanding access to quality education for all Kenyan children.
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