Teachers in job group C2 (Secondary Teacher I) popularly known as Diploma teachers have called on the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to consider them for meaningful promotions.
The secondary school Diploma teachers have lamented of job stagnation and want the Commission to come to their rescue.
Unlike Degree holders, Diploma teachers enter the service under Job Group C1 (Secondary Teacher II) (T-scale 6), previously referred to as Job Group J.
Degree holders enter the service under Job Group C2 (T-scale 7), previously referred to as Job Group K.
Grade C2 is also the grade where primary school senior teachers belong. Its a starting grade for secondary school graduate teachers.
Primary school teachers who get deployed to teach in secondary schools usually start in this grade. Primary school special need education teachers also belong to this grade.
Teachers in this grade also known as TSC – Scale 7, earn a basic salary of sh 34,955 minimum to sh 43,694 maximum.
They enjoy a monthly commuter allowance of sh 5,000, leave allowance of sh 6,000, and a house allowance of sh 7,500 for those not in municipalities or Nairobi.
Those in hardship areas get sh 10,900 as hardship allowance and those in special schools get sh 20,000 as disability guide allowance.
In addition all teachers in grade C2 get sh 6,000 annually as leave allowance.
However the teachers complain of living on a shoestring budget due to their salaries which have stagnated for long.
To quell the disgruntlement, last year the Commission advertised 1,000 promotion slots for secondary school Diploma teachers.
This was after massive activities by the teachers which included petitions and threats of mass withdrawal from their union, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet).
TSC advertised the slots through Secondary teachers advert 2/3/4/6/2021 whose interviews were conducted from May 24th to May 28th 2021 in various counties.
According to TSC promotion of Diploma teachers ends at job group C2. For them to be promoted to Job Group C3 (T-scale 8), they must go through an interview process.
TSC phased out Schemes of Service (SoS) and replaced it with Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) which Kuppet secretary Akelo Misori hailed as good for Diploma teachers.
Under the schemes of service Diploma teachers were subjected to work in their entry position for three years before promotion, but the current progression guidelines require them to go through an interview to be moved to the next group.
TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia said the guidelines consider performance and hard work.
Currently there are a total of approximately 38,000 Diploma teachers in secondary schools (both C1 and C2).
The Diploma teachers have raised the issue of unfairness regarding their remuneration, promotion and employment.
Last year they wrote a memo outlining issues they wanted sorted out by their union, Kuppet.
Among the issues canvassed in the memo were:
i. The stagnation of Diploma teachers in Job Group C2;
ii. The slow promotion of Diploma teachers who have obtained BEd degrees; and
iii. The introduction of a new Marking Scheme for teacher recruitment that has lowered the scores for Diploma teachers.
However in a reply to the memo, Kuppet secretary general Akelo Misori said the teachers were unrealistic in their demands.
He cited one example where the teachers were demanding that they be paid the same house allowances as graduate teachers which he termed as impossible.
He promised to continue engaging the teachers and asked them to channel their grievances through the established union structures, starting from branches instead of engaging in activism.
Below are the salaries and allowances TSC is currently paying Diploma teachers grade C1 and C2.
BASIC SALARY
| Grade | Basic Pay Minimum | Basic Pay Maximum |
| C1 | 27,195 | 33,994 |
| C2 | 34,955 | 43,694 |
COMMUTER ALLOWANCE
| Grade | Commuter Allowance |
| C1 | 4,000 |
| C2 | 5,000 |
DISABILITY GUIDE ALLOWANCE
| Grade | Disability Guide Allowance |
| C1 | 20,000 |
| C2 | 20,000 |
LEAVE ALLOWANCE
| Grade | Annual Leave Allowance p.m |
| C1 | 4,000 |
| C2 | 6,000 |
HOUSE ALLOWANCE
| Grade | Hse1 Nairobi | Hse2 -Major Municipalities- Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Eldoret, Thika, Kisii and Kitale | Hse3 -Other former Minor Municipalities | Hse4 – alI other areas |
| C1 | 10,000 | 7,500 | 5,800 | 4,200 |
| C2 | 16,500 | 12,800 | 9,600 | 7,500 |
HARDSHIP ALLOWANCE
| Grade | Hardship Allowance |
| C1 | 8,200 |
| C2 | 10,900 |
During the budget read this month TSC was allocated Sh2.5 billion for recruitment of 5,000 teachers.
TSC had also requested additional funding for September promotion of teachers.
The Commission had earlier listed only 6 job groups for payrise after budget. TSC listed grades C4, C5, D1, D2, D3 and D4 to get salary increment in July.
The Commission said these grades have not yet attained the maximum salary points provided for in the salary banding according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 2017 -2021.
However TSC said grades B5, C1, C2, C3 and D5 will not get payrise because they are not eligible according to the CBA terms.
The Commission said it will pay the teachers their salary increment with arrears from the date they attained the maximum salary point to January 2022.
C2 has been forgotten it’s like a packing scale. Let the commission upgrade all teachers in C2.
Tsc to promote all grades of teachers without discrimination. Teachers with high grades are being added more more salary while those low salary are left out unfarenness
Let the TSC consider those teachers in C2,surely this group has been left out for long
I have seen no pay rise only annual increament kwani hatunamahitaji??
Tsc is unfair, some of the so called diploma trs have been getting good mean scores than the degree holders, so many duties eg g n c officers, boarding managers and many others
. Can we be given less lessons so that we can be contented with the less pay.
For sure c2were forgotten.
Surely it has been struggle for us in this grade sometimes I regret kwa Nini nimekuwa hapo we have been for every long time TSC should consider us also