Nothing to smile about for teachers in the national budget read yesterday. The budget did not make allocation for any salary changes for teachers.
Sadly enough the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and teachers unions, Knut, Kuppet and Kusnet failed to reach an agreement early to include monetary benefit in the CBA 2021 – 2025.
This would mean allocation in the national budget that will see salary and allowance changes for teachers.
The Education sector received Sh544.4 billion in the 2022/23 Financial Year budget.
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has been allocated Sh294.7 billion, university education gets Sh91.2 billion and some Sh15.8 billion given to the Higher Education Loans Board.
While delivering the budget statement in Parliament yesterday, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani pointed out that Sh12 billion will cater for Free Primary Education, another Sh2.5 billion for recruitment of teachers. This is a drop in the ocean compared to the severe shortage of tutors in our learning institutions.
Sh64.4 billion will go to Free Day Secondary Education including insurance under National Hospital Insurance Fund for secondary school students.
“We are committed to provide access to quality education for our children and youth. This will facilitate realisation of their full potential and enable them to effectively contribute to the development of the country,” said Yatani.
Also out of the allocation, Sh5 billion will go towards examinations fee waiver for Grade Six, Class Eight and Form Four candidates while Sh1.96 billion is for the school feeding programme.
The CS also made a proposal to allocate Sh1.2 billion for training of teachers on Competency-Based Curriculum and Sh310 million for the Digital Literacy Programme and ICT integration to secondary schools.
Treasury has set aside Sh4 billion for the construction of CBC classrooms.
At the same time, the Universal Health Coverage got the lion’s share of the Sh146.8 billion proposed for the health sector in the 2022/23 Financial Year in yet another clearest indication the government is keen on seeing its attainment.
Yesterday’s proposal by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani to allocate UHC Sh62.3 billion saw it up from Sh47.7 billion in the last Financial Year.
UHC is one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s legacy projects as he exits after the August 9 polls.
“Mr Speaker, I propose to allocate Sh146.8 billion to the health sector to support the various programmes aimed at improving health outcomes,” Yatani said in Parliament yesterday when he presented this year’s budget proposals.
“Of this amount Sh47.7 billion will fund activities and programmes for the attainment of Universal Health Coverage,” he added.
The government kicked of UHC pilot programme in four counties – Isiolo, Kisumu, Machakos, and Nyeri – in November 2018 and in February this year, the President launched the national rollout across the 47 counties.
Speaking in Mombasa when he unveiled the full roll out, Uhuru stated that the passage of the NHIF (Amendment) Act was a milestone in Health Insurance, through which the success of UHC will be anchored on.
I know very soon you’re going to charge me with arrogance. But arrogantly speaking,, for the last 18months or so prices of essential commodities have more than trebled. Salaries on the other side has been arm-twist fun fair. Yet no is dreaming about this increment.
If you think trs aren’t worth cake sharing go ahead eat big, eat tall the rest throw away in the basket.
TSC if you could be humane enough you would see that in any other sector ,doing degrees ,masters, PhD in ones area are considered as professional development, why can’t e recognize all degrees all diplomas , degrees , Masters and PhDs and just like you did with interns be a first qualification ,award it good marks and those who trained will be promoted without this uproar ,the bile which is killing teachers and leading to depression will be reduced, why be inhumane, why should teachers pay loan for masters and degrees bitterly crying to God just bcoz Nancy can’t listen to them .It’s demotivating so much to these groups.