Shock as TSC lists only 6 job groups to earn salary increment in July

Teachers Arena March 25, 2022 TSC News 44 Comments

The Commission says teachers in the six job groups will earn the salary increment with arrears after the July 2022 budget.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) says teachers in grades B5, C1, C2, C3 and D5 will not get payrise because they are not eligible according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 2017 -2021 terms.

TSC says the teachers have reached their maximum salary points popularly known as ‘bar’ and therefore it will not be possible for their salaries to progress upward.

“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 says grades C4, C5, D1, D2, D3 and D4 have not yet attained the maximum salary points provided for in the salary banding.

TSC says it will extend the salary points for these grades starting 1st July 2020.

The Commission says it pay the teachers their salary increment with arrears from the date they attained the maximum salary point to January 2022.

“The arrears will be processed by July 2022 when funds become available,” said the Commission.

Below is a summary of the extended salary points from Grade C4 to D4.

Salary point	C4	Salary point	C5	Salary point	D1	Salary point	D2	Salary point	D3	Salary point	D4
1	52,308	1	62,272	1	77,840	1	91,041	1	104,644	1	118,242
2	55,604	2	64,631	2	85,269	2	93,850	2	107,873	2	121,890
3	56,347	3	67,080	3	87,900	3	96,745	3	111,201	3	125,651
4	58,482	4	69,622	4	89,748	4	99,730	4	114,632	4	129,528
5	60,698	5	72,260	5	90,612	5	102,807	5	118,169	5	133,524
6	62,998	6	74,998	6	91,041	6	105,979	6	121,815	6	137,644
7	65,385	7	77,840	7	93,408	7	109,249	7	125,573	7	141,891

According to the table above grade C4, C5, D1 and D4 the elongated salary scale points are from point three to seven.

While grades D2 and D3 the elongated salary scale points are from point two to seven. The arrears will be paid after July budget.

This latest revelation is a blow to teachers in the lower cadre who were yearning for a payrise after the July budget.

TSC will receive an extra Sh15 billion for the 2022 – 2023 financial year, but the Commission has refuted claims that it will use the funds to award payrise.

In a report presented to the Committee on Education and Research of the National Assembly by the Parliamentary Budget Office, 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.

The Commission CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia was also optimistic that the government will provide the additional sh 2.5 billion for hiring 5,000 new tutors.

“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 in witnessing the opening of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination materials at the Kisauni deputy county commissioner office.

The Commission talks with teachers unions Knut and Kuppet on review of CBA 2021 – 2025 which would give room for salary changes for teachers.

Kuppet attempt to force the Commission to review teachers salaries failed. Kuppet which had initially issued a strike notice withdrew and have since gone mum.

In a January 17 letter to TSC, Kuppet demanded a pay rise of at least 30 per cent and threatened to call a strike if the commission did not respond within 21 days.

In its proposal, Kuppet wants the basic monthly salary of the lowest paid teacher to be raised from Sh34,955 to Sh59,425 and that of the highest paid increased from Sh118,242 to Sh153,715. It also wants an increase in the commuter allowance from Sh5,000 to Sh8,500 for the lower cadre teachers and Sh16,000 to Sh20,000 for the highest paid tutors.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) on the other hand seeks to renegotiate its CBA to introduce monetary benefits. They are pushing for a pay rise of between 15 and 20 per cent.

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.