Why TSC should now harmonise house allowances

Not long ago, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) announced the beginning of a campaign to press for change in the payment of house allowances for teachers by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). The current policy, which has subsisted for decades, pegs teachers’ house allowances on their areas of service. For this purpose, the employer has prescribed four regional categories, viz: Nairobi; the large cities like Mombasa, Kisumu, Malindi and Naivasha; county headquarters like Nyeri, Eldoret, Kericho, Kakamega, Garissa, Kisii and Nakuru; and the rest of the country. 

Accordingly, teachers in Nairobi earn more than double the house allowances offered to their counterparts from the rest of the country. To highlight just two examples, Nairobi teachers at Grade C2, which is equivalent to Job Group K, take home Sh16,500 in house allowances while those from the rest of the country earn only Sh7,500. Nairobi teachers at Grade C3, equivalent of Job Group L, take home Sh35,000 while their compatriots from the rest of the country get only Sh15,400. The gaps are even higher at higher grades.