Classroom teachers in primary schools have a reason to smile under the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) for teachers.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) changed the grading system for primary and secondary school teachers immediately after signing of the sh 54 billion Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 2017 to 2021 between it and the three teachers unions.

According to the Commission CPG are clear modalities designed to enable the Commission implement the CBA.

TSC adopted the Career Progression Guidelines as a way of grading and promoting teachers to various grades.

There are eight (8) grades that a primary school teacher can go through while in service. The job grades are scaled according to the relative worth of each job.

In July 2023 all primary school teachers in job group C1 will automatically move to job group C2 which is equivalent to former job group K which is the starting job group for graduate secondary school teachers.

Primary school teachers who are in job group B5 will move to job group C1. However primary school teachers who are in job group C2 will need to attend interview for them to move to job group C3.

Job group C3 is a promotional grade for primary school teachers. It is also an entry grade into the administrative cadre. Entry into this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

All primary school teachers who are deployed to teach in secondary schools also start in this job group.

According to the Teachers Service Commission, CPG has solved job stagnation for teachers.

It is worth noting that prior to the implementations of CPGs, the Commission was promoting teachers using three schemes of service (certificate, degree and Diploma) based on qualification and experience; this caused stagnation in one job group.

The Commission adopted CPG in 2017 to enable implementation of the Job Evaluation (JE) and the CBA that were signed in 2016. The guidelines outline the descriptions. specifications, and competencies for each job.

Job Evaluation was conducted where all the stakeholders were involved. These were the KNUT, KUPPET,  KESSHA,  KEPSHA and the Parents Association.  

Implementation of the job evaluation report stopped any further promotion of teachers on attainment of higher qualifications.

However a report by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) disclosed that the last job evaluation was skewed, favouring school heads while leaving classroom teachers with nothing.

The report says the present job descriptions of the classrooms teachers, based on the 2016/2017 evaluation, grossly undervalued their worth, resulting in poor pay.

It discloses that the CBA 2017 – 2021, implemented based on the last job evaluation, heavily favoured head teachers as it did not aptly capture classroom teachers’ job descriptions.

“There were significant disparities in the compensation and career progression between the institutional administrators and classroom teachers in the teaching profession as the job evaluation results for 2016/2017 did not adequately cater for the remuneration of classroom teachers. This might be attributed to poor development of job descriptions in 2016,” reads the report.

In a joint meeting between TSC and KNUT on January, 2019, it was resolved that promotions based on higher  qualification was no longer tenable.  

TSC argued that there is no way an employer would promote employees based on submission of certificates that are not relevant to the job they are undertaking.

Therefore, with effect from the date of that resolution, all promotions based on attainment of higher qualifications were stopped.

“There are many ways to teacher promotion, higher qualification is just but one criterion among others such as satisfactory performance, attainment of prerequisite qualifications of a mean grade of C+ in KCSE, and C+ in two teaching subjects,” said Nancy Macharia.

Under CPG teacher promotion can be accelerated without the requisite three years as was the case in the Schemes of Service (SoS).

For instance, in the financial year 2020/2021, 96,000 teachers in job group B5 were automatically moved to C1.

This implies that these teachers moved two job groups (G -J), which is not tenable under the Schemes of Service.

All teachers were promoted with effect from 1st July 2017 when CBA 2017 to 2021 implementation begun.

The salaries were immediately adjusted to reflect the promotions. The Commission also begun issuing promotion  letters to the effect.

However most primary school teachers who were moved to job group C1 in the year 2020 July are yet to receive their promotion letters. 

The table below demonstrates the promotions effected during the CBA 2017 to 2021 for primary school teachers and administrators.

CATEGORY	PREVIOUS JOB GROUP	NEW GRADE	EQUIVALENT JOB GROUP	NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES
Primary   School teachers	G	B5	H	85,611
Primary School teachers	H	C1	J	21,347
Senior Teachers	G-K	C2	K	21,042
Deputy      Head Teachers	G-L	C4	M	17,911
Head Teachers	G-L	C5	N	22,049
Head Teachers	M-N	D1	p	2,797

When TSC implemented the Career Progression Guidelines for the first time;

•     All Teachers who were in job group G were moved to B5 equivalent to job group H.

•    All Teachers who were in job group H were moved to C1 equivalent to job group J.

•    All Senior Teachers who were between job group G-K were moved to C2 an equivalent to job group K.

•    All Deputy Head Teachers in G-L were moved to C4 equivalent to job group M.

•    All Head Teachers who were in G-L moved to C5 equivalent of job group N.

•   All Head Teachers in M and N moved to D1 equivalent of job group P.    

However in July the Teachers Service Commission, citing hard economic times, offered unions a non-monetary 2021-2025 CBA, which teachers have protested.

Though the CBA lacked immediate changes to salaries of teachers, TSC said this is not the end of the talks as they will plan for another talk on the issue in less than twelve months that could review the signed deal.

Dr Macharia said they took into consideration the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) directive.

“Although the union’s proposal included financial component the commission beseeched them to consider the advice given by the SRC that directed a freeze on salary reviews in the public sector,” said Dr Macharia after signing the deal.

The Treasury has raised TSC budget in financial 2022 – 2023 budget proposal, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, said that the extra money factored in the ministries’ budgets is for the annual salary increments.

“Every year, civil servants get a pay rise to cater for several factors including the cost of living and this amount is easy to determine each year. However, this is different from the salary increase through CBAs that has been frozen for two years until the economy recovers,” SRC Head of Corporate Communications Anthony Mwangi said.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has allocated an additional Sh14.9 billion to the TSC, whose budget has risen to Sh296.6 billion from Sh281.7 billion this year.

TSC will receive an extra Sh15 billion for the 2022 – 2023 financial year, with sources saying the additional money is for a pay rise and hiring of new teachers.

Below are the eight official job groups for primary school teachers approved by TSC under CPG.

1. Primary Teacher II (T – Scale 5)

This is the entry grade for primary school teachers. All newly employed teachers fall under this category.

All Primary Teacher II teachers fall under Grade B5

2. Primary Teacher I (T – Scale 6)

This is a promotional grade for primary school teachers. For Primary Teacher II teachers to join this grade, they must serve for at least three years. Promotion to this grade is automatic.

All Primary Teacher I teachers fall under Grade C1 which is the grade where Secondary Teacher II and Lecturer III belong.

3. Senior Teacher II (T – Scale 7)

This is a promotional grade for primary school teachers. It is also an entry grade into the administrative cadre. Entry into this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as Primary Teacher I T-Scale 6  for a minimum period of three (3) years.

All Senior Teacher II teachers fall under Grade C2 which is the grade where Secondary Educator II, Senior Educator II and Special Need Education Educator (primary schools) belong.

4. Senior Teacher I (T – Scale 8)

This is a promotional grade for institutional administrators. Entry to this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as Senior Teacher II T-Scale 7 for a minimum period of three (3) years.

All Senior Teacher I teachers fall under Grade C3 which is the grade where Secondary Educator I, Lecture I, Special Need Education Teacher I (primary schools), Special Need Education Educator II (secondary schools) belong.

5. Deputy Headteacher II (T – Scale 9)

This is a promotional grade for institutional administrators. It is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as a Senior Teacher I at T-Scale 8 for minimum period of three (3) years.

All Deputy Headteacher II teachers fall under Grade C4 which is the grade where Senior Master IV, Special Need Education Senior Teacher (primary school), Senior Lecturer IV and Special Need Education Teacher I (secondary schools) belong.

6. Deputy Headteacher I (T – Scale 10)

This is a promotional grade for institutional administrators. It is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as a Deputy Headteacher II  T-Scale 9 for minimum period of three (3) years.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have acquired enough knowledge on the development and implementation of the curriculum and education policies.

All Deputy Headteacher I teachers fall under Grade C5 which is the grade where Senior Master III, Deputy Principal IV, Senior Lecture III, Curriculum Support Officer II and Head Educator belong.

7. Headteacher (T – Scale 10)

This is a promotional grade for primary school administrators. The headteacher is the lead educator and accounting offer in the school. He/she leads in the development and implementation of the school work plans, strategies, budgets and supervision of school’s operations.

Promotion to this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies. For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as Deputy Head Teacher II at T-Scale 9 for minimum period of three (3) years.

All Headteacher teachers belong to Grade C5.

8. Senior Headteacher (T – Scale 11)

This is a promotional grade for institutional administrators. He/she is a lead educator in addition to being the chief accounting officer.

Promotion to this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies. For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as Headteacher T-Scale10 for a minimum period of three (3) years.

All Senior Headteacher fall under Grade D1 which is the grade where Deputy Principal III, Senior Master II, Senior Lecture II, Curriculum Support Officer I belong.

BELOW ARE SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES TSC PAYS ITS TEACHERS COUNTRYWIDE

BASIC SALARY

Grade	TSC Scale	Basic Pay Minimum	Basic Pay Maximum
B5	5	21,756	27,195
C1	6	27,195	33,994
C2	7	34,955	43,694
C3	8	43,154	53,943
C4	9	52,308	65,385
C5	10	62,272	77,840
D1	11	77,840	93,408
D2	12	91,041	109,249
D3	13	104,644	125,573
D4	14	118,242	141,891
D5	15	131,380	157,656

COMMUTER ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Commuter Allowance p.m
B5	5	4,000
C1	6	4,000
C2	7	5,000
C3	8	6,000
C4	9	8,000
C5	10	8,000
D1	11	12,000
D2	12	12,000
D3	13	14,000
D4	14	14,000
D5	15	16,000

DISABILITY GUIDE ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Disability Guide Allowance p.m
B5	5	20,000
C1	6	20,000
C2	7	20,000
C3	8	20,000
C4	9	20,000
C5	10	20,000
D1	11	20,000
D2	12	20,000
D3	13	20,000
D4	14	20,000
D5	15	20,000

LEAVE ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Annual Leave Allowance p.m
B5	5	4,000
C1	6	4,000
C2	7	6,000
C3	8	6,000
C4	9	6,000
cs	10	6,000
D1	11	10,000
D2	12	10,000
D3	13	10,000
D4	14	10,000
D5	15	10,000

HOUSE ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Hse1 Nairobi	Hse2 -Major Municipalities- Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Eldoret, Thika, Kisii and Kitale	Hse3 -Other former Minor Municipalities	Hse4 – alI other areas
BS	5	6,750	4,500	3,850	3,200
C1	6	10,000	7,500	5,800	4,200
C2	7	16,500	12,800	9,600	7,500
C3	8	28,000	22,000	16,500	13,000
C4	9	28,000	22,000	16,500	13,000
C5	10	35,000	25,500	18,000	15,400
D1	11	45,000	28,000	21,000	16,800
D2	12	45,000	28,000	21,000	16,800
D3	13	45,000	28,000	21,000	16,800
D4	14	45,000	28,000	21,000	16,800
D5	15	50,000	35,000	25,000	20,000

HARDSHIP ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Hardship Allowance p.m
B5	5	6,600
C1	6	8,200
C2	7	10,900
C3	8	12,300
C4	9	14,650
C5	10	17,100
D1	11	27,300
D2	12	27,300
D3	13	31,500
D4	14	31,500
D5	15	38,100

   

Classroom teachers in primary schools have a reason to smile under the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) for teachers.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) changed the grading system for primary and secondary school teachers immediately after signing of the sh 54 billion Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 2017 to 2021 between it and the three teachers unions.

According to the Commission CPG are clear modalities designed to enable the Commission implement the CBA.

TSC adopted the Career Progression Guidelines as a way of grading and promoting teachers to various grades.

There are eight (8) grades that a primary school teacher can go through while in service. The job grades are scaled according to the relative worth of each job.

In July 2023 all primary school teachers in job group C1 will automatically move to job group C2 which is equivalent to former job group K which is the starting job group for graduate secondary school teachers.

Primary school teachers who are in job group B5 will move to job group C1. However primary school teachers who are in job group C2 will need to attend interview for them to move to job group C3.

Job group C3 is a promotional grade for primary school teachers. It is also an entry grade into the administrative cadre. Entry into this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

All primary school teachers who are deployed to teach in secondary schools also start in this job group.

According to the Teachers Service Commission, CPG has solved job stagnation for teachers.

It is worth noting that prior to the implementations of CPGs, the Commission was promoting teachers using three schemes of service (certificate, degree and Diploma) based on qualification and experience; this caused stagnation in one job group.

The Commission adopted CPG in 2017 to enable implementation of the Job Evaluation (JE) and the CBA that were signed in 2016. The guidelines outline the descriptions. specifications, and competencies for each job.

Job Evaluation was conducted where all the stakeholders were involved. These were the KNUT, KUPPET,  KESSHA,  KEPSHA and the Parents Association.  

Implementation of the job evaluation report stopped any further promotion of teachers on attainment of higher qualifications.

However a report by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) disclosed that the last job evaluation was skewed, favouring school heads while leaving classroom teachers with nothing.

The report says the present job descriptions of the classrooms teachers, based on the 2016/2017 evaluation, grossly undervalued their worth, resulting in poor pay.

It discloses that the CBA 2017 – 2021, implemented based on the last job evaluation, heavily favoured head teachers as it did not aptly capture classroom teachers’ job descriptions.

“There were significant disparities in the compensation and career progression between the institutional administrators and classroom teachers in the teaching profession as the job evaluation results for 2016/2017 did not adequately cater for the remuneration of classroom teachers. This might be attributed to poor development of job descriptions in 2016,” reads the report.

In a joint meeting between TSC and KNUT on January, 2019, it was resolved that promotions based on higher  qualification was no longer tenable.  

TSC argued that there is no way an employer would promote employees based on submission of certificates that are not relevant to the job they are undertaking.

Therefore, with effect from the date of that resolution, all promotions based on attainment of higher qualifications were stopped.

“There are many ways to teacher promotion, higher qualification is just but one criterion among others such as satisfactory performance, attainment of prerequisite qualifications of a mean grade of C+ in KCSE, and C+ in two teaching subjects,” said Nancy Macharia.

Under CPG teacher promotion can be accelerated without the requisite three years as was the case in the Schemes of Service (SoS).

For instance, in the financial year 2020/2021, 96,000 teachers in job group B5 were automatically moved to C1.

This implies that these teachers moved two job groups (G -J), which is not tenable under the Schemes of Service.

All teachers were promoted with effect from 1st July 2017 when CBA 2017 to 2021 implementation begun.

The salaries were immediately adjusted to reflect the promotions. The Commission also begun issuing promotion  letters to the effect.

However most primary school teachers who were moved to job group C1 in the year 2020 July are yet to receive their promotion letters. 

The table below demonstrates the promotions effected during the CBA 2017 to 2021 for primary school teachers and administrators.

CATEGORY	PREVIOUS JOB GROUP	NEW GRADE	EQUIVALENT JOB GROUP	NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES
Primary   School teachers	G	B5	H	85,611
Primary School teachers	H	C1	J	21,347
Senior Teachers	G-K	C2	K	21,042
Deputy      Head Teachers	G-L	C4	M	17,911
Head Teachers	G-L	C5	N	22,049
Head Teachers	M-N	D1	p	2,797

When TSC implemented the Career Progression Guidelines for the first time;

•     All Teachers who were in job group G were moved to B5 equivalent to job group H.

•    All Teachers who were in job group H were moved to C1 equivalent to job group J.

•    All Senior Teachers who were between job group G-K were moved to C2 an equivalent to job group K.

•    All Deputy Head Teachers in G-L were moved to C4 equivalent to job group M.

•    All Head Teachers who were in G-L moved to C5 equivalent of job group N.

•   All Head Teachers in M and N moved to D1 equivalent of job group P.    

However in July the Teachers Service Commission, citing hard economic times, offered unions a non-monetary 2021-2025 CBA, which teachers have protested.

Though the CBA lacked immediate changes to salaries of teachers, TSC said this is not the end of the talks as they will plan for another talk on the issue in less than twelve months that could review the signed deal.

Dr Macharia said they took into consideration the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) directive.

“Although the union’s proposal included financial component the commission beseeched them to consider the advice given by the SRC that directed a freeze on salary reviews in the public sector,” said Dr Macharia after signing the deal.

The Treasury has raised TSC budget in financial 2022 – 2023 budget proposal, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, said that the extra money factored in the ministries’ budgets is for the annual salary increments.

“Every year, civil servants get a pay rise to cater for several factors including the cost of living and this amount is easy to determine each year. However, this is different from the salary increase through CBAs that has been frozen for two years until the economy recovers,” SRC Head of Corporate Communications Anthony Mwangi said.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has allocated an additional Sh14.9 billion to the TSC, whose budget has risen to Sh296.6 billion from Sh281.7 billion this year.

TSC will receive an extra Sh15 billion for the 2022 – 2023 financial year, with sources saying the additional money is for a pay rise and hiring of new teachers.

Below are the eight official job groups for primary school teachers approved by TSC under CPG.

1. Primary Teacher II (T – Scale 5)

This is the entry grade for primary school teachers. All newly employed teachers fall under this category.

All Primary Teacher II teachers fall under Grade B5

2. Primary Teacher I (T – Scale 6)

This is a promotional grade for primary school teachers. For Primary Teacher II teachers to join this grade, they must serve for at least three years. Promotion to this grade is automatic.

All Primary Teacher I teachers fall under Grade C1 which is the grade where Secondary Teacher II and Lecturer III belong.

3. Senior Teacher II (T – Scale 7)

This is a promotional grade for primary school teachers. It is also an entry grade into the administrative cadre. Entry into this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as Primary Teacher I T-Scale 6  for a minimum period of three (3) years.

All Senior Teacher II teachers fall under Grade C2 which is the grade where Secondary Educator II, Senior Educator II and Special Need Education Educator (primary schools) belong.

4. Senior Teacher I (T – Scale 8)

This is a promotional grade for institutional administrators. Entry to this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as Senior Teacher II T-Scale 7 for a minimum period of three (3) years.

All Senior Teacher I teachers fall under Grade C3 which is the grade where Secondary Educator I, Lecture I, Special Need Education Teacher I (primary schools), Special Need Education Educator II (secondary schools) belong.

5. Deputy Headteacher II (T – Scale 9)

This is a promotional grade for institutional administrators. It is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as a Senior Teacher I at T-Scale 8 for minimum period of three (3) years.

All Deputy Headteacher II teachers fall under Grade C4 which is the grade where Senior Master IV, Special Need Education Senior Teacher (primary school), Senior Lecturer IV and Special Need Education Teacher I (secondary schools) belong.

6. Deputy Headteacher I (T – Scale 10)

This is a promotional grade for institutional administrators. It is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as a Deputy Headteacher II  T-Scale 9 for minimum period of three (3) years.

For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have acquired enough knowledge on the development and implementation of the curriculum and education policies.

All Deputy Headteacher I teachers fall under Grade C5 which is the grade where Senior Master III, Deputy Principal IV, Senior Lecture III, Curriculum Support Officer II and Head Educator belong.

7. Headteacher (T – Scale 10)

This is a promotional grade for primary school administrators. The headteacher is the lead educator and accounting offer in the school. He/she leads in the development and implementation of the school work plans, strategies, budgets and supervision of school’s operations.

Promotion to this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies. For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as Deputy Head Teacher II at T-Scale 9 for minimum period of three (3) years.

All Headteacher teachers belong to Grade C5.

8. Senior Headteacher (T – Scale 11)

This is a promotional grade for institutional administrators. He/she is a lead educator in addition to being the chief accounting officer.

Promotion to this grade is competitive and subject to availability of vacancies. For one to be appointed to this grade he/she must have served as Headteacher T-Scale10 for a minimum period of three (3) years.

All Senior Headteacher fall under Grade D1 which is the grade where Deputy Principal III, Senior Master II, Senior Lecture II, Curriculum Support Officer I belong.

BELOW ARE SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES TSC PAYS ITS TEACHERS COUNTRYWIDE

BASIC SALARY

Grade	TSC Scale	Basic Pay Minimum	Basic Pay Maximum
B5	5	21,756	27,195
C1	6	27,195	33,994
C2	7	34,955	43,694
C3	8	43,154	53,943
C4	9	52,308	65,385
C5	10	62,272	77,840
D1	11	77,840	93,408
D2	12	91,041	109,249
D3	13	104,644	125,573
D4	14	118,242	141,891
D5	15	131,380	157,656

COMMUTER ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Commuter Allowance p.m
B5	5	4,000
C1	6	4,000
C2	7	5,000
C3	8	6,000
C4	9	8,000
C5	10	8,000
D1	11	12,000
D2	12	12,000
D3	13	14,000
D4	14	14,000
D5	15	16,000

DISABILITY GUIDE ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Disability Guide Allowance p.m
B5	5	20,000
C1	6	20,000
C2	7	20,000
C3	8	20,000
C4	9	20,000
C5	10	20,000
D1	11	20,000
D2	12	20,000
D3	13	20,000
D4	14	20,000
D5	15	20,000

LEAVE ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Annual Leave Allowance p.m
B5	5	4,000
C1	6	4,000
C2	7	6,000
C3	8	6,000
C4	9	6,000
cs	10	6,000
D1	11	10,000
D2	12	10,000
D3	13	10,000
D4	14	10,000
D5	15	10,000

HOUSE ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Hse1 Nairobi	Hse2 -Major Municipalities- Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Eldoret, Thika, Kisii and Kitale	Hse3 -Other former Minor Municipalities	Hse4 – alI other areas
BS	5	6,750	4,500	3,850	3,200
C1	6	10,000	7,500	5,800	4,200
C2	7	16,500	12,800	9,600	7,500
C3	8	28,000	22,000	16,500	13,000
C4	9	28,000	22,000	16,500	13,000
C5	10	35,000	25,500	18,000	15,400
D1	11	45,000	28,000	21,000	16,800
D2	12	45,000	28,000	21,000	16,800
D3	13	45,000	28,000	21,000	16,800
D4	14	45,000	28,000	21,000	16,800
D5	15	50,000	35,000	25,000	20,000

HARDSHIP ALLOWANCE

Grade	TSC Scale	Hardship Allowance p.m
B5	5	6,600
C1	6	8,200
C2	7	10,900
C3	8	12,300
C4	9	14,650
C5	10	17,100
D1	11	27,300
D2	12	27,300
D3	13	31,500
D4	14	31,500
D5	15	38,100