County governments will now be charged with employing Early Childhood and Development Education (ECDE) teachers while Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will pay their salaries and allowances.
If captured in the final report and adopted by the stakeholders, each nursery school pupil will also receive Sh1,170 from the government per year.
This follows a proposal by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) which has proposed a number of reforms in the education sector which were later submitted to President William Ruto for adoption.
The education taskforce says that counties will only employ ECDE teachers but the mandate to pay them will be under TSC starting January 2024.
The National Treasury will release a budget to the Counties for employing the teachers and another to TSC for paying their salaries.
ECDE teachers with Diploma will be placed under job group C1 while those with Certificates will start at job group B5.
Those with Diploma will earn a monthly basic salary of sh. 27,195 in minimum to sh. 33,994 maximum.
They will be entitled to a house allowance of sh. 4,200 (those in other regions), commuter allowance of sh 4,000 and a leave allowance (paid once a year) of sh. 4,000.
Those in hardship areas will also get a hardship allowance of sh. 8,200 per month.
ECDE teachers with certificates will earn a monthly basic salary if sh. 21,756 in minimum to sh. 27,195 maximum.
In addition they will also get sh. 3,200 as house allowance (those in other regions), sh. 4,000 as commuter allowance and a leave allowance (paid once a year) of sh. 4,000.
Those in hardship areas will also get a hardship allowance of sh. 6,600 per month.
The ECDE certificate and diploma teachers will also have a comprehensive medical cover making them get good medical services in all accredited medical facilities countrywide.
Currently only a few county governments have employed ECDE teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
Many have employed them on contract with poor pay and terming them as ‘caregivers’.
The Council of Governors had proposed to employ ECDE teachers on permanent terms and pay those with Certificates sh24387, those with Diplomas sh34395, and Graduates sh46,494 per but this is not happening in most counties.
The counties are exploiting the teachers by paying them low salaries that are not uniform.
This will be the second attempt to move employment of ECDE teachers to TSC after the initial one was thwarted by the Labour and Relations Court.
The constitution mandates TSC to register trained teachers and also recruit and employ those registered and assign them for service in any public school or institution.
However Schedule 4 of the constitution outlines pre-primary and vocational training as functions of the County Governments.
County governments are mandated to oversee pre-primary education and childcare facilities, including the recruitment of the teachers.
Majority of ECDE teachers however want to be moved from counties payroll, saying it is discriminative and unpredictable.
The team proposed a change in the role of TSC in managing the ECDE teachers once the proposal is adopted.
Current salaries of ECDE teachers per county
1. Uasin Gishu County
Untrained 23,000/-
Certificate 31,000/-
Diploma 35,000/-
Degree 55,000/-
2. Kakamega County
Certificate 23,000/-
Diploma 25,000/-
Degree 30,000/-
3. Garissa County
Certificate 45,000/-
Diploma 67,000/-
Degree Not applied
4. Kericho County
Certficate 26,000/-
Diploma 36,000/-
Degree 48,000/-
5. Homa Bay County
Certficate 15,000/-
Diploma 23,000/-
Degree Not applied
6. Kitui County
Certficate 27,000/-
Diploma 32,000/-
Degree 50,000/-
7. Nyamira County
Certificate 15,000/-
Diploma 18,000/-
Degree Not applied
8. Narok County
Certficate 27,000/-
Diploam 33,000/-
Degree Not applied
9. Bomet County
Certificate 13,000/-
Diploma 16,000/-
Degree 21,000/-
10. Marsabit County
Certificate 28,500/-
Diploma 36,000/-
Degree 50,000/-
11. Kajiado County
Certificate 32,000/-
Diploma 36,000/-
Degree Not applied
12. Nandi County
Certificate 12,000/-
Diploma 15,000/-
Degree Not applied
13. West Pokot County
Certificate 12,000/-
Diploma 14,000/-
Degree 22,000/-
More to follow keep checking for updates
Am Soo happy for these great news
This will be incredible
Am so delighted may our God intervin
That is great move ,very delighted
I take this opportunity to thank our mighty God for remembering us. To all stakeholders in the ministry of education, we want to appreciate your efforts of ensuring that ECDE teachers are respectful like any other teacher. May God bless you abundantly.
let it be in Jesus name