Teachers in the six job groups would get the wage increase with arrears after the July 2022 budget, according to the Commission.
Teachers in grades B5, C1, C2, C3, and D5 will not receive a pay raise, according to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), because they are not qualified under the rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 2017-2021.
TSC claims that teachers have achieved their maximum wage points, dubbed the ‘bar,’ and that their salaries would not be able to rise any further.
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“Grades B5, C1, C2, C3, and D5 have reached the maximum salary points provided for in the banding by the completion of the cycle for CBA 2017 – 2021,” reads the document
However, the Commission claims that grades C4, C5, D1, D2, D3, and D4 have not yet reached the salary banding’s maximum salary points.
TSC has announced that effective July 1, 2020, the compensation points for these grades will be increased.
According to the Commission, teachers will be paid their wage increases in arrears from the date they reached the maximum salary point until January 2022.
“When funds become available, the arrears will be processed by July 2022,” the Commission stated.
The extended salary points from Grade C4 to D4 are summarized here.
According to the tables above, the elongation salary scale points for grades C4, C5, D1 and D4 are from point three to seven.
The extended salary scale points for grades D2 and D3 are from point two to seven. After the July budget, the arrears will be paid.
This latest discovery is a setback for lower-level teachers who had hoped for a pay raise following the July budget.
TSC will get an additional Sh15 billion for the fiscal year 2022-2023, but the Commission has denied that the funds will be used to issue salary raises.
TSC plans to use its increased allocation of Sh15 billion exclusively to employ 13,000 secondary school teachers and 9,000 interns to cope with exits and the expected increase in enrolment when junior secondary is rolled out in January 2023, according to a report presented to the National Assembly’s Committee on Education and Research by the Parliamentary Budget Office.
Dr. Nancy Macharia, the Commission’s CEO, is also optimistic that the government will provide the additional Sh 2.5 billion needed to hire 5,000 more teachers.
This is an election year. We know there are limited resources but we remain hopeful that the government will listen to us and ensure our children have enough teachers.” said Macharia.
She was speaking in Mombasa when she led senior government officials to the Kisauni deputy county commissioner’s office to witness the opening of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination materials.
The Commission is in discussions with the teachers’ unions Knut and Kuppet on a review of the CBA 2021–2025, which would allow for salary adjustments for teachers.
Kuppet’s attempt to compel the Commission to conduct a salary review of teachers was unsuccessful. Kuppet, who had originally issued a strike notice, has since withdrawn and gone silent.
Kuppet wanted a wage raise of at least 30% in a letter to TSC dated January 17 and threatened to strike if the commission did not respond within 21 days.
Kuppet proposes that the lowest-paid teacher’s basic monthly wage be increased from Sh34,955 to Sh59,425 and the highest-paid teacher’s salary be increased from Sh118,242 to Sh153,715. It also wants to raise the commuting allowance for lower cadre teachers from Sh5,000 to Sh8,500, and for higher paid tutors from Sh16,000 to Sh20,000.
On the other side, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) wants to revise its collective bargaining agreement to include monetary perks. They are requesting a wage increase of between 15% and 20%.
COMMISSION
However in a presentation to the National Assembly Committee on Education on consideration of the Budget Statement Policy, 2022, TSC sais it requires at least Sh10 billion to finance critical programmes, which include recruitment and promotions of teachers.
Nancy Macharia said the commission requires some Sh5.3 billion to recruit 8,000 teachers for the 100 per cent transition.
Macharia said the monies are part of the critical areas, which were not funded in the last budget.
“The commission would appreciate any facilitation for these areas to receive some allocation,” said Macharia.
TSC boss also told the committee that it will require Sh1.2 billion to recruit 6,000 interns and another Sh2 billion for promotion of teachers on competitive selection.
For implementation of Teachers Performance Appraisal and Development and performance contract, the TSC boss said the agency is seeking Sh10 million
“Teacher mentorship and coaching programme requires an estimated Sh50 million while the roll out of a national Biometric Enrolment and Validation of tutors will be done at a cost of Sh342.4 million,” she said.
TSC wants facilitation of Sh600 million for gratuity to 3,358 contract teachers in the Northern frontier and construction of additional county office accommodation estimated at a cost of Sh183.6 million.
During the resource sharing at the Sector Working Group, the commission said it was allocated Sh295.9 billion for recurrent expenditure against a projected requirement of Sh310.5 billion.
On development expenditure, the allocation was 656.4 million against a projected requirement of Sh1.14 billion.
The commission also said priorities identified in the 2022/23 budget and the medium term were informed by the 2019-2023 strategic plan and the medium-term plan III of Vision 2030.
During the period, TSC had proposed to recruit 25,000 teachers, out of which 13,000 on permanent and pensionable terms and another 12,000 interns annually for the next three years.
Commission proposed to train Grade Six and Seven teachers in readiness for 2023 when the first CBC cohort will transit to Junior Secondary at a cost Sh2.52 billion,” commission boss explained.
TSC has organized training of 60,000 secondary school teachers in April 2022.
The Commission also made a proposal to automate and integrate its systems for paperless operations at a cost of Sh335 million, roll out of national biometric enrollment and validation of teachers valued at Sh342.4 million but were not financed.
Despite the financing shortfall, the commission said that 15,000 additional teachers were recruited and deployed to support implementation of the 100 per cent transition to secondary school.
Commission further explains that some 5,000 teachers were employed in 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years respectively.
Similarly, TSC developed a framework for hiring teachers on internship and 28,300 were recruited.
In the 2019/2020, some 10,300 teacher interns were recruited while 12,000 and 6,000 were recruited in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years respectively.
“Competency-Based Curriculum was supported by training 229,000 teachers from 2019 to June last year,” TSC told the committee.
