Staffing rules for schools to avert financial crisis

A jiko fitted with gas valves bringing in the biogas used for cooking at Chuka Boys high school in Tharaka Nithi County.

The Ministry of Education has issued guidelines on recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in secondary schools with specific number of workers per institution and their fixed salaries.

Releasing the guidelines, Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang cautioned school managers against haphazard recruitment of staff that pushes up their wage bill leading to financial crisis.

The ministry tasked management boards with the responsibility of employing additional staff on terms commensurate with qualifications and their capacity to pay.

The October 19, 2017 rationalised staff recruitment rules state that schools are expected to maintain lean staff to ensure manageable payrolls.

The guidelines that borrow from the 2014 findings of Dr Kilemi Mwiria education task force recommended that non-teaching staff be paid basic salary of up to Sh41,000.

Secretaries in public secondary schools who fall under job groups F, G, and H are expected to earn a maximum of Sh24,662 and a minimum of Sh12,510 per month.

Office messengers who fall under job group D are to earn a minimum pay of Sh10,380 and a maximum of Sh11,370.

Storekeepers fall under job groups F, G and H and are to be paid a minimum salary of Sh12,510 and a maximum of Sh21,304.

A bursar under job group K should earn some Sh41,590 per month, according to the report. Their minimum pay was proposed to be Sh31,020.

Bursars are required to have Certified Public Accountant (CPA) III.

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A storekeeper is required to have a certificate in procurement or supplies management.

According to the guidelines, nurses employed by schools are supposed to double up as matrons. Nurses fall under job groups H and J and are to earn a maximum pay of Sh24,662 per month. They are expected to have a certificate in nursing. 

Security personnel who fall under job groups C and D are supposed to earn a maximum of Sh11,370 and a minimum of Sh9,660. They should be holders of KCSE certificate. 

The guidelines state that the grounds men or women are to be paid Sh11,370 per month and a minimum of Sh9,660.

Laboratory technicians are to earn Sh21,304 per month and a minimum of Sh12,510.

Cooks will take home some Sh11,370 and a minimum pay of Sh9,660 per month. They will fall under job groups C and D and will be expected to have Form Four certificate. 

Cateresses who fall under job groups F and G are to earn a maximum of Sh21,304 and a minimum of Sh12,510. They will be required to have the Kenya National Examination Council certificate in catering.

The kitchen hand staff in job groups C and D will be paid a maximum salary of Sh10,380 and a minimum of Sh9,660. They must posses Standard Eight certificate. Information and Communication Technology technicians fall under job groups F and G and will get a maximum pay of Sh21,304. Their basic pay will be Sh12,510.

However, the report recommended that schools must employ staff pegged on students’ enrolment data and the number of streams per school.

“Essential support staff should be employed on permanent and pensionable terms and follow set norms in engaging other categories,” reads the report.

Details of the guidelines list a total of nine vote heads that will get funding from the government and none of them makes reference to recruitment and remuneration of the teaching and non-teaching staff.