Mixed bag for Kenyan teacher

Secretary General KUPPET Akello Misori (left) and Julius Korir Vice Chairman during a meeting on harsh promotion conditions, delayed remittance of dues by the Government among others. May 22, 2018. [Photo: Jonah Onyango, Standard]

It is a mixed bag of fortunes for the Kenyan teacher as World Teachers Day was marked yesterday.

Education stakeholders claim teachers are grappling with day-to-day challenges including low pay, heavy workload and low self esteem.

The say the working environment is not secure with some exposed to attacks from external aggressors, parents and even students.

Despite the goodwill of the government to honour hefty salary deals entered by unions, teachers continue to live in panic as the employer tightens noose on professionalism.

“Everyone expects the teacher to produce results but the job is stressful and lowly rewarding,” says Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers secretary general Akello Misori.

Mr Misori says the teacher no longer has ability to afford a decent house, or raise a healthy family.

For the past three months, the government through the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has been implementing the last phase of a multi-billion shilling Collective Bargaining Agreement that raised least paid teachers salary to Sh21,756 up from Sh19,224.

The highest paid cadre of teachers who fall under job group D1 to D5, and currently earn between Sh55,231 and Sh148,360 will take now home a salary range of between Sh77,840 and Sh157,656. But stakeholders say teachers have not been cushioned from high rate of inflation that has pushed up the cost of living.

The sad picture of the Kenyan teacher is further painted by revelations that they are fast loosing a voice to negotiate effectively for their rights. The botched meeting this week between TSC and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) signals hard times for the teacher.

Saturday Standard has established that Knut and TSC maintained their hardline stands, effectively firming up employer’s position that all contentious professional policies must be implemented.

Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion says the teacher must be empowered, heard and treated with respect for effective curriculum delivery.

Teachers have fought the mass transfers and the dreaded delocalisation policy introduced by TSC this year and the failed meeting means that more staff are set to be moved.

Also sticking on teachers flesh is the professional performance appraisal tools that they argue is burdensome and eats into their teaching time.

Teachers also cry about the scrapping of the schemes of service that took away automatic promotions and replaced with professional development tool.