The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is an independent ministerial department under the Ministry of Education that establishes, executes, and furthers most of the teaching policies for delivering excellent standards of education, training, and care in the basic education sector of Kenya.
Hence, the primary role of TSC is to foster educational excellence for global competitiveness and ensure equal access no matter background, family circumstances, or need.
Thus, one of its main responsibilities is hiring and deploying teachers who have demonstrated competency to instruct students and children in various subjects at secondary and primary schools across the country.
As the chief employer and registrar of teachers in Kenya, TSC pays these teachers to work. Again, when there is a problem with their salaries, and the teachers want a pay rise, it is involved in negotiations and collective bargaining of contacts with teacher unions and government bodies like the Public Service Commission (PSC).
TSC teachers’ pay structures overview 2024
TSC has set up pay structures to manage the salaries of teachers in Kenya who are paid monthly.
These pay structures contain the pay values of every teacher depending on the responsibilities and years of classroom experience.
The teachers are categorized into job groups or job grades and receive compensation based on the salary ranges to which they belong. Salary ranges in the TSC pay scale define the maximum and the minimum a teacher can make in a particular post.
Teacher salary in Kenya
The heads, Chief Principals, and Principals of Kenyan secondary schools of job grade D5 are high earners making above Ksh100,000 every month, with the former (Chief Principals), managers of big institutions, earning between Ksh131,380 and Ksh159,534.
Senior principals belong to grade D4, whose pay range is Ksh118,242 – Ksh143,581. On the other hand, other principals with little experience and in charge in small schools with little experience earn an average of Ksh105,182 and Ksh127,069 in TSC job group D3, like Deputy Principals I.
New primary school teachers employed by TSC earn nearly Ksh10,000 less than their counterparts in secondary schools, whose upper earning limit is Ksh45,776/mo.
See the latest TSC salary scale for employed teachers in Kenya as per the latest signed collective bargaining agreement (CBA) effective July 1, 2024;
| Listing | Hiring post/title | Job grade (and TSC pay scale) | Monthly salary range 2024 |
| 1 | * Chief Principal | D5 (T-Scale 15) | Ksh131,380 – Ksh159,534 |
| 2 | * Senior Principal | D4 (T-Scale 14) | Ksh118,242 – Ksh143,581 |
| 3 | * Principal *Deputy Principal | D3 (T-Scale 13) | Ksh105,182 – Ksh127,069 |
| 4 | * Deputy Principal II * Senior Master I | D2 (T-Scale 12) | Ksh92,119 – Ksh110,551 |
| 5 | * Senior Master II * Deputy Principal III * Senior Headteacher | D1 (T-Scale 11) | Ksh78,625 – Ksh95,101 |
| 6 | * Senior Master III * Senior Lecturer III * Headteacher * Deputy Headteacher I | C5 (T-Scale 10) | Ksh62,272 – Ksh78,667 |
| 7 | * Senior Lecturer IV * Senior Master IV * Special needs education (SNE) senior teacher (Primary) * SNE teacher I (Secondary) * Deputy Headteacher II | C4 (T-Scale 9) | Ksh52,308 – Ksh67,220 |
| 8 | * Secondary teacher I * Lecturer I * SNE teacher I (Primary) * SNE teacher II (Secondary) * Senior teacher I | C3 (T-Scale 8) | Ksh44,412 – Ksh56,514 |
| 9 | * Secondary teacher II * SNE teacher II (Primary) * Lecturer II * Senior teacher II | C2 (T-Scale 7) | Ksh36,621 – Ksh45,776 |
| 10 | * Secondary teacher III * Lecturer III * Primary teacher I | C1 (T-Scale 6) | Ksh28,491 – Ksh35,614 |
| 11 | * Primary teacher II | B5 (T-Scale 5) | Ksh22,793 – Ksh28,491 |
Do high school teachers get paid well?
As of 2024, the starting salaries of high school or secondary school teachers with bachelor’s degrees in education and no prior experience range from Ksh28,491 to Ksh35,614 for those with three or more years of experience.
Teachers under TSC with over six years of teaching and additional coursework or qualifications receive a monthly basic salary of more than Ksh45,000, and senior teachers and principals get over Ksh70,000 to a high of Ksh130,000 depending on experience.
What qualifications do you need to be a high school teacher in Kenya?
To become a licensed public high school teacher or a teacher employed by the government (Teachers Service Commission – TSC) to teach in secondary schools in Kenya, you’ll need at least a bachelor’s degree from a recognized university, which usually takes four to five years to complete.
When you graduate, you will be eligible to register with the teachers’ commission to get a TSC number, which readies you for hiring to teach at any school in the country.
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