The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is set to pay teachers their August salaries with increment arrears backdated to 1, July 2024.
TSC has already released payroll to banks and saccos to facilitate the payment of the teachers salaries.
Yesterday President William Ruto said the Commission will pay sh13 billion to teachers to fulfill the Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA) that the government signed with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet).
“At the end of this month, all your dues will be paid so that you can continue teaching our children,” he said on Wednesday in Kuja, Nyatike Constituency, in Migori County.
Delays in the implementation of the CBA led to strike notices by the two teacher unions.
Ruto termed as “patriotic” Knut’s decision to suspend their industrial action to allow the government time to implement the CBA.
At the same time, he urged junior secondary school teachers on contract to be patient as the government implements their transition from intern to permanent terms of employment.
“The Teachers Service Commission and the Ministry of Education are putting in place measures to ensure the confirmation of all JSS teachers,” he said.
In the CBA deal teachers will get an increment of up to Sh2, 570 for the least paid (B5), to Sh393 for the highest earners (D5).
This means that the new salaries of the lowest paid teachers will range between a minimum of Sh23, 830 to a maximum of Sh29, 787.
The new salary scales for highest paid teacher will range from a minimum of Sh131,389 and a maximum of Sh162,539.
In addition, teachers will also benefit from four allowances: commuter, house, leave and hardship.
The allowances will range from Sh3,850 to a maximum of Sh50,000. Specifically, commuter allowance will range between Sh4,000 to Sh16,000.
Those who will get housing allowance will be paid Sh3,850 and Sh50,000. While leave allowance has been put between Sh4,000 and Sh10,000.
Teachers who will get hardship allowances will be paid between Sh6,600 and Sh38,100.
Macharia had said that the salary adjustments will be reflected in teachers’ August payslips, with arrears backdated to July 1, 2024 when implementation was set to begin.
This means that teachers will get more money at the end of this month when the backdated amounts are released.
The boom comes after the teachers received a similar increment last year in the first phase of 2021-2025 CBA.
After meeting teachers unions last week TSC CEO Dr. Macharia confirmed that they were allocated the monies to implement the CBA.
“After today’s discussions, the Commission is pleased to announce that the Government has provided funds for the implementation of the 2d phase of the CBA with effect from July 1, 2024,” Dr Macharia said after meeting unions.
This means that over 370,000 teachers across the country will receive a salary increase as the second phase of the CBA, from August.
Teachers in pay Grade B5, the lowest-ranking teachers, will get a minimum pay rise of Sh1,037. This means that their salaries will increase from Sh22,793 to 23,830.
However, the highest scale earners in this job group will take home Sh29,787.
