The Teachers Service Commission handles teacher discipline under Part XI of the Code of Regulations for Teachers (CORT) 2015, Legal Notice 196 of 2015, made under section 47(2) of the Teachers Service Commission Act. This part of the Code is still in force in its 2015 form, last revised on 31 December 2022, and it sets out exactly what a teacher can be disciplined for, who investigates, how interdiction works, and what the Commission can decide.
This guide walks through that process using the actual regulation numbers, so you know where each rule comes from rather than relying on second-hand summaries.
The short answer
If a teacher is accused of misconduct, TSC (through the head of institution, Board of Management, or County Director acting as its agent) investigates the allegation, may place the teacher on interdiction while the case is heard, and a Disciplinary Panel then hears the matter and decides whether to revoke the interdiction, issue a warning, suspend, dismiss, retire the teacher in the public interest, or dismiss and remove the teacher from the Register of Teachers. Minor cases can end with an administrative warning at institution level and never reach a full hearing.
What counts as a disciplinary offence
Regulation 140 of CORT lists the offences for which TSC “may take disciplinary action” against a teacher. They fall into broad categories rather than a rigid checklist, since the Commission also has discretion to act on “any other act or conduct that is incompatible with the teaching profession.”
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| Category | Examples under Regulation 140 |
|---|---|
| Immoral behaviour | Sexual intercourse, sodomy, lesbianism, sexual harassment or flirtation |
| Professional misconduct | Negligence of duty, lateness to duty, chronic absenteeism, desertion, incitement, insubordination |
| Infamous conduct | Drunkenness, fighting, conduct that in the Commission’s opinion contradicts Chapter Six of the Constitution (leadership and integrity) |
| Other listed offences | Forgery, mismanagement and embezzlement of public funds |
| Catch-all | Any other conduct incompatible with the teaching profession |
Two terms worth defining precisely, since they carry specific legal meaning under Regulation 3:
- Desertion means being absent from duty continuously for 14 days or more without written authority.
- Insubordination means refusing or failing to obey a lawful instruction from the Commission, an agent, or a person placed in authority over the teacher.
- Negligence of duty means wilfully neglecting to perform assigned work, or carelessly performing work that ought to have been done properly.
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Offences that can get a teacher struck off the Register altogether
Regulation 141 sets a higher bar — these are offences that can lead to removal from the Register of Teachers, which is more severe than dismissal because it ends the person’s legal ability to teach anywhere in Kenya, public or private:
- Immoral behaviour with or towards a learner, including sexual intercourse or abuse, sodomy, lesbianism, sexual harassment or flirtation
- Obtaining registration, employment or promotion through fraud
- Conviction of a sexual offence, or any offence against a learner or a colleague
- Conviction of a criminal offence that, in the Commission’s opinion, makes the person unfit to teach
- Forgery, impersonation or presenting forged documents to the Commission
- Mismanagement, misappropriation or embezzlement of public funds
- Theft of institutional property
- Incitement
- Any other conduct the Commission considers warrants removal from the Register
A related but separate offence exists under Regulations 39–40 for fraudulently procuring registration or falsely holding out as a registered teacher — these are criminal offences under the Code, attracting a fine of up to KSh 100,000 or up to 12 months’ imprisonment, or both, quite apart from any TSC disciplinary sanction.
Economic crimes and “serious offences” are handled differently
Regulations 142–143 carve out a separate track for economic crimes (fraudulent claims, procurement violations, unplanned expenditure, dishonesty affecting public revenue) and other “serious offences,” defined as those carrying capital punishment or conduct the Commission considers grossly against public policy.
A teacher charged with one of these is suspended, not interdicted, from the date of the charge, and receives half basic salary plus full house and medical allowances.
If a court later acquits or discharges the teacher, TSC lifts the suspension and pays back any benefits withheld. A teacher held in lawful custody is suspended without pay for the incarceration period.
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How a case actually moves through the system
1. Minor breaches: warning first
For minor misconduct, the head of institution may issue a verbal warning or a written caution. Persistent minor misconduct after a warning, or a more serious first-time allegation, moves the matter to a formal show-cause stage.
2. Reporting and investigation
Anyone with allegations against a teacher can report them under Regulation 144 — to the Secretary, the County Director, the head of institution, the Secretary of the Board of Management, or any law enforcement agency. Regulation 145 requires the complaint to be in writing, or, if made verbally, recorded and signed as a statement.
Investigation is then carried out by whichever body has authority over the teacher’s station (Regulation 146):
- The Board of Management, acting as TSC’s agent, where the institution has a functional board
- The County Director, through a team of at least three technical officers, where there is no functional board
- The head of institution, jointly with the board and county director, where the allegation concerns a teacher stationed elsewhere
3. Interdiction
Where investigations show the teacher has a case to answer, the agent serves a letter of interdiction on the prescribed form, specifying the actual allegations. A copy goes to the Secretary/County Director with supporting evidence, and the teacher is required to clear from the institution — and any institutional housing — within 48 hours of receiving the letter. Desertion cases are interdicted without delay, since the teacher’s whereabouts are often unknown and a hearing cannot practically be held first.
Once interdicted, a teacher is generally required to submit a written defence statement (commonly cited as within 21 days) giving a contact address, and cases are typically heard within about three months of interdiction, though these two figures come from TSC’s published administrative practice and secondary TSC guidance rather than a regulation number this article could independently verify in the current text of Part XI — treat them as the commonly applied timeframe rather than a fixed statutory deadline, and confirm the specific dates stated on your own interdiction letter.
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4. Salary and allowances during interdiction
This is one of the most commonly misunderstood parts of the process, and the rules differ by offence type:
| Situation | Pay position |
|---|---|
| Standard interdiction (most offences) | Half basic salary; full house allowance continues (Regulation 89(2)); commuter allowance stops (Regulation 90(2)) |
| Chronic absenteeism, desertion, being jailed/in legal custody, misappropriation or mismanagement of public funds, fraudulent claims, use of false certificates, forgery or impersonation | No pay during the period of interdiction |
| Charged with an economic crime or “serious offence” (Regulation 143) | Suspended (not interdicted) on half basic salary, with full house and medical allowances |
| Held in lawful custody | Suspended without pay for the period of incarceration |
| Found not guilty at the end of a discipline process | Reimbursed travelling expenses, and any withheld benefits are restored where the process was a suspension under Regulation 143 |
5. The Disciplinary Panel and the hearing
CORT’s table of contents for Part XI sets out the remaining stages by regulation number: Regulation 147 (process of interdiction), 148 (salary status), 149 (mode of inviting a teacher to a Disciplinary Panel), 150 (disciplinary proceedings), 151 (composition of the Disciplinary Panel), 152 (powers of the Commission), 153 (procedure during the hearing), 154 (determinations) and 155 (administrative warning).
In practice, and consistent with how TSC and the courts have described the process:
- The teacher is given written notice of the specific allegations and reasonable time to prepare a defence.
- The teacher has the right to appear in person, present evidence, call witnesses, and cross-examine the Commission’s witnesses.
- Regulation 151 requires the Disciplinary Panel to be chaired by a member of the TSC Board — this is not a formality. In March 2026, the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Kisumu ruled that a disciplinary process was a nullity precisely because the panel lacked a Board member as chair, underlining that procedural compliance is enforced, not just aspirational.
- Under Regulation 139, TSC presumes a teacher innocent until proven guilty, is not strictly bound by courtroom rules of evidence, and can proceed even where the teacher’s own conduct has made an in-person hearing impossible. Disciplinary action is also not barred by, or dependent on, a pending or concluded criminal case over the same facts.
- Where minors give evidence, TSC must apply safeguards required under the Children Act.
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6. What the Panel can decide
After a preliminary hearing, the agent or panel may find no case to answer, issue an administrative warning, or interdict the teacher. Following a full hearing before the Commission, the possible determinations are:
- Revoke the interdiction
- Warn the teacher
- Suspend the teacher from duty
- Dismiss the teacher from service
- Retire the teacher in the public interest
- Dismiss and remove the teacher from the Register of Teachers
A teacher who does not appear for the hearing after being properly notified can still have the case heard and determined in their absence.
Can a teacher work anywhere else while the case is pending?
No. It is an offence under the Code for a teacher to teach in any institution — public or private — while interdicted, suspended, or removed from the Register. This applies even to private schools.
Posting after a case is resolved
- If suspension is lifted, the teacher is posted immediately.
- Where a suspension period is ending, the teacher is generally posted before the suspension formally expires so there’s no gap in duty.
- If a teacher hears nothing from TSC for an extended period after a hearing, the appropriate step is to follow up directly with the Commission’s headquarters or the relevant County Director rather than assume the matter has lapsed.
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Appeals and review
A teacher who disagrees with a disciplinary decision is not without recourse. TSC operates an internal review mechanism — Employment and Labour Relations Court judgments from 2026 describe teachers’ cases going through a Review Committee after the initial disciplinary panel decision, before any further legal challenge.
Where the internal review upholds the original decision, the teacher can move to the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC). Recent ELRC rulings show the court will uphold TSC’s decision where it finds the teacher genuinely had a fair hearing (as in an August 2026 Machakos ruling on a desertion case), but will fault the Commission where a mandatory procedural step — such as the Regulation 151 chairing requirement — was skipped.
Separately, under Regulation 36, a teacher removed from the Register can only apply for reinstatement after 18 months from the date of removal, and only where they have not lodged, or have exhausted, an appeal against the removal.
Where the union fits in
The Code of Regulations does not name a union role at every stage, but in practice TSC informs the relevant union of disciplinary proceedings and unions such as KNUT and KUPPET commonly send a representative to sit in or advise a member during the process.
If you are facing a show-cause letter or interdiction, contacting your union branch official as soon as you receive it — rather than after drafting a response — gives you the best chance of a properly prepared defence within the time allowed.
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A recent example
In July 2026, TSC gazetted the removal of seven teachers from the Register of Teachers under section 30(2) of the TSC Act, following disciplinary processes that ran through the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 periods. The teachers were formally struck off on 25 February 2026.
The gazette notice, in line with standard practice, did not disclose the specific offences involved — TSC generally does not publish the grounds for individual disciplinary decisions in its public notices, only the outcome.
Frequently asked questions
Is interdiction the same as dismissal? No. Interdiction is a temporary suspension from duties while a case is investigated and heard. Dismissal is a final outcome that can only follow a completed disciplinary process.
How long does a TSC disciplinary case take? There is no single fixed statutory period covering the whole process. Investigation, interdiction and hearing timelines vary by case; teachers are commonly told to expect a hearing within roughly three months of interdiction, but complex cases, especially those tied to pending criminal proceedings, can take longer.
Does a pending criminal case stop TSC from acting? No. Regulation 139(3) allows TSC to proceed with its own disciplinary process regardless of whether criminal proceedings are pending or have already concluded in acquittal, because the disciplinary and criminal processes serve different purposes and apply different standards.
Can a teacher be disciplined for something that happened outside school? Yes, where the conduct falls within the listed offences — for example, drunkenness, criminal conduct, or conduct the Commission considers incompatible with the teaching profession is not limited to acts committed on school premises.
What is the difference between removal from the Register and dismissal? Dismissal ends a teacher’s employment with TSC. Removal from the Register of Teachers goes further — it withdraws the legal certificate needed to teach in any institution in Kenya, public or private, until reinstatement (available only after 18 months, where applicable).
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