Teachers to smile all the way to the bank as allowances are released

Teachers during a past strike. The government will pay public school teachers Sh1.6 billion at the end of the month. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

By Augustine Oduor

Nairobi, KENYA: Teachers will enjoy a Sh1.6 billion boom at the end of this month when authorities pay out a raft of new allowances backdated to July 1. The new allowances were negotiated to end the nationwide teachers’ strike in July, but the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was yet to factor them in teachers’ salaries.

TSC is now processing payments for three sets of allowances that are sure to fatten the bank accounts of more than 278,000 teachers at month-end. Under the pay-out, the lowest paid teachers will pocket up to Sh37,000 on top of their monthly salary, and the highest will rake in as much as Sh100,000.

Teachers secured additional rates for commuter allowance, special school allowance, responsibility allowance and readers allowance after a protracted strike in July.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) signed the Sh16 billion pay deal. It’s unclear what fraction of this will be paid out as arrears.

“We have no figures until the payroll is generated,” TSC officials told The Standard. But the monthly payroll for teachers is about Sh12 billion.

Under the new deal, commuter allowance for the lowest paid teacher in Job Group G will rise from Sh1, 001 to Sh2, 501 starting this month. The arrears total Sh4, 500. The commuter allowance for this group will be eventually revised to Sh4, 000 by 2014.

The highest paid teacher (Job Group R) will be laughing all the way to the bank, with arrears totalling more than Sh17, 000.

The group currently earns Sh4, 410 but the take home will be improved to Sh10, 205 this month. The figure will rise to Sh16, 000 by 2014.

A circular dated August 13, 2013, and signed by TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni shows that teachers’ commuter allowance will be revised in two phases spread across 24-months. The deal included harmonising the commuter allowance for teachers with that of civil servants.

Special schools

Special school allowance for all teachers will be revised to a flat rate of Sh10,000. The pay for the lowest paid will thus rise by over Sh8,000, from Sh1,669. Backdated to July 1, beneficiaries will pocket more than Sh19,000.

But there are losers as well. The highest paid teacher, who currently takes home Sh10,908, will take a Sh900 pay cut.

This allowance will only be paid out to teachers in designated special schools or units. “The commission has the sole responsibility to determine and/or designate a special school or unit for purposes of this allowance as per its policy,” said Lengoiboni.

Visually impaired teachers will also have good tidings at the end of the month. Under the new deal, readers allowance was revised to a flat rate of some Sh15,000, up from Sh7,785. Beneficiaries will pocket Sh21,645 in arrears.

Additionally, responsibility allowance for primary school head teachers, their deputies and senior teachers will be doubled. Primary school teachers in job group K and below are the only beneficiaries of the allowance.

A teacher who heads a single stream school and currently takes home Sh750 will now earn Sh1,500. Deputy heads in these schools currently pocket Sh200 but will now take home Sh400 per month. Senior teachers in these schools will also have a revised pay of Sh300.

And primary school teachers who head 20-streamed schools and are paid Sh7,500 as responsibility allowance will now earn Sh15,000. Their deputies will take home a revised pay of Sh4,000.

Senior teachers under the same category will take home an adjusted pay of Sh300.

Lengoiboni, however, challenged teachers to provide quality education even as the government strives to better their remuneration.

Medical insurance

“As an employer, we want to see teachers emphasise quality education delivery as a matter of policy. They must show that they are also working hard towards this realisation,” he said.

Lengoiboni added that the commission is in the process of negotiating with a credible medical insurance provider for a comprehensive medical cover for all teachers.

“The details of the medical cover will be communicated as soon as it is operationalised,” he said.