KNEC Releases Teacher Training Exam Results Ahead of TSC Recruitment

Relief for Student Teachers as KNEC Releases Results Weeks Before TSC Hiring

Nairobi, October 14, 2026 – The wait is over for thousands of student teachers across Kenya. The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) today released the 2026 results for the Teacher Education Assessment and Examinations, ending weeks of anxiety among candidates who had been refreshing their phones and calling college offices for any word.

The council confirmed that results are out for the Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE), the Diploma in Secondary Teacher Education (DSTE), TCAE, and Special Needs Education (SNE) Levels 1 and 2.

For candidates counting down to this day, the release comes at a crucial point in the teacher employment calendar.

Mandara TTC tops the pack

Early indications from the DPTE results show that Mandara TTC has emerged as the top-performing college, after recording many Distinctions compared with other Teacher Training Colleges.

The performance puts the institution at the head of the field in a examination that attracted approximately 10,000 candidates nationwide.

Distinctions are the highest grade a trainee can attain, and a strong showing means a large share of the college’s candidates performed at the top of the scale.

For the students and tutors at Mandara, it is a moment of celebration and a vindication of months of rigorous preparation. For other colleges, it sets a benchmark to measure themselves against in the coming years.

Sitting about 10,000 candidates, the DPTE was the largest of the examinations released today, and the competition among colleges was stiff.

As more colleges receive and share their results, fuller rankings and grade breakdowns are likely to emerge in the days ahead.

How candidates can access their results

KNEC has advised candidates to obtain their results directly from their colleges. Result slips are ready and can be collected from the institutions where candidates sat their examinations.

Candidates are encouraged to contact their college administrations, confirm collection arrangements and pick up their slips as soon as possible.

The council also noted that only colleges that have made full payment to KNEC have received their candidates’ results.

Candidates whose institutions have not yet received results should follow up with college management, since the release depends on the institution having cleared its obligations.

In its announcement, KNEC congratulated all candidates on completing their programmes.

An earlier release than many expected

The timing has surprised many candidates. Earlier expectations, including reports circulating in September, suggested that the results would not be released until December 2026, after national examinations and institutional assessments had run through October and November. Today’s release comes well ahead of that schedule.

Many candidates had braced for another two months of uncertainty, unable to plan their next steps without knowing their performance. The early release is a welcome relief.

It is important to note what has not yet been released. Official academic certificates are still pending. KNEC is expected to process and issue them early next year, usually delivering them to college principals and management boards.

Graduates then collect them physically from their colleges, often around the time of institutional graduation ceremonies, traditionally held around June. For now, the result slip is the document in candidates’ hands.

Why the timing matters: the TSC recruitment

The release is especially significant because of what is coming next. Teachers Service Commission (TSC) chairperson Jamleck Muturi has already indicated that the Commission will carry out a major recruitment of teachers in November, after the conclusion of the national examinations and assessment exercise.

With results now available, qualified candidates can collect their result slips and be ready to apply when the recruitment window opens, even as they wait for KNEC to release certificates next year.

Many candidates feared that delays in results would lock them out of the process, so having the slips ready closes that gap.

The TSC has previously outlined plans to absorb close to 30,000 teachers through a mixture of internships and teacher replacements within the financial year ending June 2027.

While opportunities at the primary level remain tightly controlled, the Commission’s strategy has focused on replacing teachers who leave service through natural attrition, such as retirement or resignation, rather than on large-scale generalised recruitment.

Candidates should therefore prepare for a competitive process and make sure their documentation is complete.

The context: a surplus of primary teachers

To understand why this moment carries so much weight, it helps to look at the broader picture of teacher employment in Kenya.

Labour data has pointed to an excess of more than 18,000 primary school teachers, a surplus compounded by the phasing out of the old 8-4-4 system.

Under that system, primary schools handled learning up to Class 8 and required large numbers of primary teaching staff.

The rollout of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), with Junior Secondary School tiers housed within secondary school settings, changed how teachers are deployed. Demand for primary-level teachers dropped, even as colleges kept graduating thousands of new teachers into an already crowded market.

That reality is why the Ministry of Education moved to suspend the intake of fresh school leavers into Teacher Training Colleges.

The September 2026 intake for the Diploma in Primary Teacher Education was restricted to serving teachers holding a P1 Certificate who are upgrading their qualifications.

Fresh KCSE candidates, including the 2025 cohort, were redirected towards Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.

The students receiving results today began their training before the freeze took effect, which means they are entering a labour market the Ministry is deliberately trying to balance.

P1 teachers and the Special Needs Education route

Among those with the most at stake in today’s release are the serving P1 teachers who sat the SNE courses.

Many enrolled in these programmes hoping for promotion by the TSC, which usually deploys teachers with special needs qualifications to special schools and units to address staffing gaps.

For these teachers, the result slip is more than a record of performance. It is the first step towards a possible new posting, better prospects and the chance to fill a recognised need in the education system.

Special needs education has long faced shortages of trained personnel, and qualified SNE teachers are in demand in institutions that serve learners with diverse needs.

As the TSC prepares to move on staffing, those who have completed SNE 1 and 2 could find their new qualifications opening doors.

Reforms reshaping teacher training

Today’s release also comes amid a major restructuring of teacher education. Following recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, led by the late Prof. Raphael Munavu, the Ministry issued a circular dated January 19, 2026, signed by then Basic Education Principal Secretary Dr. Julius Bitok.

It abolished several legacy programmes, most notably the Diploma in Early Childhood Teacher Education (DECTE) and its upgrading counterpart, UDECTE.

In their place, the Ministry introduced a single course, the Diploma in Teacher Education, Pre-Primary and Primary (DTE, PP & P).

The aim is to remove the fragmentation between early learning and primary school. The new three-year programme requires a minimum KCSE mean grade of C (plain) and prepares teachers to handle learners from PP1 and PP2 through Grades 1 to 6.

Key directives in the circular included:

• KNEC was directed not to register new candidates under the standalone DECTE or UDECTE streams.
• Colleges must offer the new programme strictly on a full-time basis.
• School-based training modes remain suspended indefinitely, to protect contact hours and instructional quality.
• County and sub-county directors of education must ensure compliance across public and private institutions.

Graduates of the new programme will have dual employment mobility. Because early childhood education falls under county governments while primary education is managed nationally, they can seek posts under county administrations or apply through the TSC.

The candidates receiving results today belong to the programmes that preceded this structure, but the reforms show where teacher training is heading.

What candidates should do now

With results out and recruitment on the horizon, student teachers should act quickly:

1. Contact your college. Confirm that your institution has received results and find out when and how slips are issued.
2. Collect your result slip. It is the key document for now, while certificates remain pending.
3. Prepare your documents. Gather identification, academic papers and other credentials ahead of the TSC recruitment.
4. Watch for official announcements. Follow TSC and KNEC communications for the application window, requirements and deadlines.
5. Be patient on certificates. They are expected early next year and will be collected from colleges.

Candidates who face delays because of their colleges’ payment status should engage college management promptly and keep records of all communication.

Relief, but also a competitive road ahead

For many candidates, today’s announcement ends a stressful stretch. Student teachers have spent months waiting, wondering whether their results would arrive in time to apply for jobs.

Social media groups, college corridors and family conversations have all been dominated by one question: when will the results be out?

Now, with the answer in hand, candidates can move from waiting to planning. Yet the relief comes with sober realities. The employment landscape remains competitive, with limited primary-level openings and a Commission focused on filling vacancies created by natural attrition.

Candidates in the secondary and special needs fields may see better prospects, as demand in those areas continues to evolve alongside the CBC.

What is clear is that the sector is changing. With the intake freeze, the merging of early childhood and primary training, and a Commission focused on matching recruitment to real classroom needs, Kenya’s teacher education system is being recalibrated.

For Mandara TTC, today is a day of pride. For the thousands of candidates across the country, it is a milestone that finally tells them where they stand.

Looking ahead

As the TSC prepares for November, all eyes will turn to the recruitment advertisement. Candidates who have collected their slips and prepared their documents will be best placed to respond quickly.

For those awaiting certificates, the early part of next year will bring that final piece of paper and, with it, formal recognition of years of training.

For now, the message from KNEC is simple: the results are out, they are available at colleges that have cleared their payments, and candidates are congratulated for reaching this milestone.

After a long wait, thousands of Kenya’s future teachers can finally turn the page.