Hardship areas as specified by TSC and hardship allowance rates by job group are extra payments made by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to teachers who work in designated hardship zones. An area must satisfy any of the following conditions in order to be designated as a hardship area:
- Lack of or unavailability or inaccessibility to food,
- Inadequate transport and communication network,
- Limited basic social services and amenities,
- Persistent harsh climatic conditions like flooding, landslides and drought,
- Insecurity and high possibility of security threats.
Therefore, a hardship allowance is given to teachers who work in locations that have been identified as difficult in an effort to cover their living expenses. As was already mentioned, teachers who operate in difficult circumstances encounter a variety of difficulties, such as a lack of water, flooding, and hostile living conditions marked by frequent attacks.
Hardship allowances
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission, (SRC), reviewed the hardship allowance in December 2014 and decided that it should be provided at a fixed amount for all equivalent grades and job groups. The peg of the hardship payment as a percentage of basic pay was totally eliminated by the Commission.
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The rates of the monthly hardship payments made to teachers who work in disadvantaged areas are stated in the table below, broken down by job group:
| S/NO | GRADE | TSC SCALE | FORMER JOB GROUP | Hardship Allowance- in Kshs per Month |
| 1 | B5 | 5 | G | 6,600 |
| 2 | C1 | 6 | H | 8,200 |
| 3 | C2 | 7 | I | 10,900 |
| 4 | C3 | 8 | J | 12,300 |
| 5 | C4 | 9 | K | 14,650 |
| 6 | C5 | 10 | L | 17,100 |
| 7 | D1 | 11 | M | 27,300 |
| 8 | D2 | 12 | N | 27,300 |
| 9 | D3 | 13 | P | 31,500 |
| 10 | D4 | 14 | Q | 31,500 |
| 11 | D5 | 15 | R | 38,100 |
TSC designated hardship areas.
The TSC has classified a number of places as difficult. Hardship areas are those that are vulnerable to terrorism, starvation, and aridity. TSC has approved 38 areas as hardship areas as of 2012.
Teachers who work in some of the following counties’ schools currently get monthly hardship allowances.
Hardship areas/counties
| S/NO. | AREA/ COUNTY |
| 1 | Garissa County |
| 2 |
|
| 3 | Kilifi County |
| 4 | Kwale County |
| 5 | Lamu County |
| 6 | Mandera County |
| 7 | Marsabit County |
| 8 | Narok County |
| 9 | Samburu County |
| 10 | Taita Taveta County |
| 11 | Tana River County |
| 12 | Turkana |
| 13 | Wajir County |
| 14 | West Pokot County |
