Kenya has only 65 public primary schools under the leadership of teachers aged below 35, despite young professionals making up nearly a third of the country's teaching workforce, raising concerns over limited opportunities for younger educators to advance into senior positions.
The findings, released by the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), point to a major gap in the representation of young teachers in school leadership, with only 65 out of approximately 21,000 public primary schools headed by individuals in this age group.
Speaking during the Kenya Comprehensive School Heads Association annual conference in Mombasa, NGEC Chief Executive Officer Purity Ngina said the figure was disproportionately low considering that teachers below 35 account for 32.5 per cent of the country's teaching workforce.
Dr Ngina said the statistics were drawn from an equality audit of the teaching workforce conducted by the commission, which examined the representation of different groups in the education sector.
She questioned why young teachers continued to have limited access to leadership positions despite possessing the skills and ability to manage schools and take on administrative responsibilities.
"And that explains why young people are not happy with us, because they know they have the capacity and capability to lead," she said.
Dr Ngina challenged education stakeholders to examine the factors that could be standing in the way of younger teachers seeking leadership positions, calling for deliberate measures to remove barriers to their career advancement.
She pointed out that some teachers had attained headship positions at a relatively young age, questioning why similar opportunities were not being extended to the current generation of educators.
"I have heard stories of some of you who have said, 'I became a headteacher when I was 30' So why are we not giving young people the responsibility to lead?" she posed.
The commission urged education institutions to put in place fair promotion systems and create more opportunities for younger teachers to develop their careers and take up leadership responsibilities.
Dr Ngina said qualified teachers should be given equal opportunities to contribute to school management, regardless of their age, while institutions should assess whether existing promotion practices were limiting the progression of younger professionals.
The concerns come at a time when school administrators are taking on expanded responsibilities under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system, bringing renewed attention to the need for effective leadership and management in learning institutions.
Meanwhile, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has introduced changes to its career progression framework in an effort to address challenges affecting teachers' advancement.
Acting TSC Chief Executive Officer Evaleen Mitei told the conference that the commission had reviewed the 2018 Career Progression Guidelines and introduced two separate career pathways to accommodate different professional ambitions.
Under the revised framework, teachers will have distinct progression routes for classroom teaching and school administration, allowing those who wish to remain in the classroom to advance professionally without being required to move into management positions.
Mitei said the changes were intended to ensure teachers in both career paths had opportunities to progress to the highest levels of their professions, provided they met the required qualifications and conditions.
"This means every teacher, be it in the classroom or the administrative cadre, can rise to the top of the ladder based on the set criteria and requirements" she said.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Collins Oyuu also called for greater recognition of younger educators, saying their professional ambitions should be considered in the management and transformation of schools.
Oyuu said schools needed to create working environments where the experience of older teachers could be combined with the creativity, fresh ideas and technological skills brought by younger professionals.
He pointed to mentorship, professional discussions and innovation as some of the ways schools could encourage collaboration between teachers of different generations.
The discussions at the Mombasa conference highlighted the need to widen leadership opportunities, strengthen career development and ensure younger teachers have a greater role in shaping the future of Kenya's education sector.