Teachers unions, Knut, Kuppet and Kusnet are lined up for talks with TSC that have resumed today in Nakuru after they failed to materialize last week.
The Commission which had already paid teachers third part obligations like loans and insurance premiums was hoping to reach a deal with teachers unions on Tuesday so it could release August salaries with changes.
However the talks to review the CBA 2021 – 2025 flopped after TSC presented a salary offer less than what SRC had proposed and what teachers unions demanded.
Now teachers are experiencing serious salary delays that has ripple effect on their lives.
A good number working in distance schools are unable to report to their work station for lack of fare and upkeep money.
Others had planned to take their children back to school but are now unable due to finances caused by the delay.
Sources are now revealing that teachers unions will take what the Commission will offer to hasten payment of August salaries with increment and July arrears.
Already the August payroll is closed so that the August salaries can be paid with increment backdated to July.
TSC is in a hurry to seal the pay deal after President William Ruto ordered finality in talks to allow new salaries.
Ruto on Wednesday urged the TSC and union representatives to ensure they reach an agreement as soon as possible.
“I know there are discussions between TSC and teacher representatives and I want to ask them to expedite the negotiations because the government has provided the resources to enhance their pay packages,” Ruto said during the Kenya Music Festival Winners’ concert at State House, Nakuru.
He was speaking a day after teachers unions declined the 2.4 per cent proposal for higher job groups and 9.5 per cent for lower ones saying it did not even match recommendations made by the President and the SRC.
The President lauded teachers for their work, saying those who prepared learners for the festivals should benefit from planned promotions.
“I want to recommend here that teachers who have done this phenomenal job, trained these young people, written the scripts and done exemplary work should join those to be promoted in this cycle. I believe they deserve that promotion because they have excelled and gone beyond the call of duty,” said Ruto.
He said the government had been working with TSC to incentivize teachers and bring out their best by making sure that those who do well are promoted.
“This year, we have provided for promotion of 5,000 teachers directly and 36,000 teachers indirectly. We have provided Sh1 billion that will go in that direction. I want to encourage teachers to step forward, do their best because apart from doing what we must do as a society, teachers are looked after… We want to promote those who excel because they have gone beyond their call of duty,” the President said.
Ruto said the music presentations were part of the wider context of what the government is doing in the creative space, arts and education.
He said the event was Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) in practice, saying that the debate on the education system had since been resolved.
“I want to thank stakeholders in formulating and straightening CBC and now all the challenges we had have been sorted out and our children can learn, knowing very well where we are going and parents should be sure what is happening to their children,” he explained.
Elswehere, Luanda MP Dick Maungu has blamed Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for failing to promote teachers despite having been allocated Sh1.5 billion in the financial year of 2022/2023.
The lawmaker, who is a member of the Education Committee in the National Assembly, was reacting to remarks by some teachers that they had stagnated in their job groups for years. “We have heard stories of teachers who have served in the same job group in the same school for over 15 years,” Maungu said.
He was speaking at Emuhaya during a Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) event over the weekend.
The MP also complained that some teachers have been in acting capacity for long without being promoted.
“There is no way a teacher can act for over 14 years. This is like using the teacher as a slave,” he said.
He said Parliament will come up wit a new policy that will clarify how long a teacher should act as a deputy in a learning institutions.
Maungu said the Education Principal Secretary will in September appear before the Education Committee to explain why schools were yet to receive their capitation funds despite the Treasury realising money.
What about if you were a senior teacher and was not validated when they were doing it.can you still apply as a senior or deputy headteacher?
Looking forward for the best interest of the Kenyan teachers following on going or concluded salary discussions. Teachers are playing a crucial role in the development of any country. His Excellence the president’s intervention on the of teachers’ salary is timely. My appeal to the responsible parties is that denying justice to a humble servant who is a teacher in this respect is doing injustice to our development agenda as a country. My honest take!