You’ll get better terms, school heads assured

By AUGUSTINE ODUOR

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has promised head teachers a comprehensive scheme of service similar to that of other civil servants.

He said head teachers double up as managers and noted it will soon be possible for them to rise to Job Groups S and T to retain them in the profession.
“You deserve it and also deserve career advancement like anybody else in public service.

There should be no temptation to exit and you should rise to the level of a Permanent Secretary while still teaching,” he said. He spoke Friday at the Wild Waters Centre in Mombasa where some 6,000 secondary school head teachers are gathered for their annual conference.

The teachers led by the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (Kessha) National Chairman Cleopas Tirop had earlier indicated they are ready to sign performance contracts if the Government offers them a better scheme of service.

“We are ready for the performance contracts. And this can be seen from the performance of the teachers and their commitment to work,” he said.
School heads have for a long time demanded an enhanced scheme that recognises their roles as school managers and compensates them accordingly.

TSC BILL
Speaking earlier, TSC secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni said once enacted, the TSC Bill will establish a committee to review the terms and conditions of service for teachers and advise the salaries commission accordingly.

He said he is aware schools heads would wish to rise to job group S and T and also be paid responsibility allowance like other public servants.

“It is prudent to wait for the enactment of the Bill that will provide for all these,” he said.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) also weighed in, asking that head teachers be remunerated well. “We demand a proper and rich scheme of service for all the school heads complete with their allowances just like all other civil servants,” said Kuppet Secretary General Akelo Misori.

Friday, the PM also instructed the Ministry of Education and the TSC to come up with an incentive scheme for motivating schools that don’t perform well in national examinations.

“Schools that performs poorly but have shown some level of improvement must be motivated to do better,” he said. Former Education PS James Ole Kiyiapi criticised the Government for failing to allocate enough funds for recruitment of teachers.
“In a budget of Sh1.4 trillion, how can they only hire 10,000 teachers?” he posed.  He said although the transition rate from primary to secondary school stands at 74 per cent, the drop out rate has also increased.