School heads serving in arid and semi-arid areas have raised alarm over what they term as unfair treatment by the Teachers Service Commission, following the revocation of their promotions and persistent staffing challenges.

The principals, who gathered in Mombasa during the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) annual conference, called on the Commission to urgently address the disparities affecting schools in hardship regions.

KESSHA National Secretary Abdi Noor Haji revealed that 1,864 principals, senior principals, and chief principals had their promotions withdrawn despite having successfully gone through interviews.

He said the revocation, based on claims that they had not served three years in their current grades, had deeply discouraged those working in the most difficult regions.

"This is demoralizing. These teachers were promoted to principal, senior principal and chief principal positions but their promotions were revoked," said Haji.

He appealed to the Commission to consider promoting teachers who have served in hardship regions for at least six months instead of the current three-year rule, arguing that such areas struggle to attract and retain experienced personnel.

"Despite acute shortage of teachers in ASAL counties, getting qualified teachers for such positions is very hard," he said.

Haji also faulted the practice of some teachers exploiting hardship areas as stepping stones to secure jobs or promotions before quickly seeking transfers elsewhere.

"Many teachers use hardship counties to get teaching jobs and after being confirmed or promoted, they always ask for transfer," he said.

He warned that the staffing crisis is hurting the rollout of the Competency-Based Education curriculum, with many ASAL schools lacking subject specialists.

"The shortage of teachers in arid areas is worrying because there are very few science teachers and subjects like computer are not being taught in schools in ASAL areas," said Haji.

"We do not have computer science, home science, woodwork and others which makes us wonder how the children in these areas will be taught as we implement CBE," he added.

KESSHA Chair Willie Kuria echoed the concerns, urging the government to review the school fees structure and capitation policy every three years to reflect the changing economic conditions and demands of schools.

"The government should have a policy which will ensure the distribution of capitation funds and fees per student payment reflects the country's state of economy," said Kuria.

He further called on TSC to expand the current job grading system up to D7 and ensure that acting principals who have served for over six months are promoted accordingly.