Revealed: Salary deal that teachers rejected

TSC CEO Nancy Machariachats with KUPPET Secretary General Akelo  Misori and his KNUT counterpart Collins Oyuu during the release of 2021 KCPE results at the Mitihani house on March 28, 2022. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Teachers’ unions yesterday differed over a salary deal that would have seen their members get an increment of between Sh1,076 and Sh3,000.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has offered a salary raise of between 9.5 per cent and 2.4 per cent, which was to be spread to two financial years.

Teachers in the lowest grades of B5, C1, C2 and C3, according to the TSC, would receive an increment of between 9.5 to 7.2 per cent. Those in Job Grades C4, D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5 were to get 2.4 per cent.

This means that a teacher in Grade B5 who earns Sh21,756 would get Sh23,830 monthly salary after the review, an increase of Sh2,074.

Those in C1, who earn Sh27,195, were to earn Sh29, 787.

The pay offer was a gain for low earners, who missed out in the 2017/2021 salary deal which benefited teachers in higher grades.

Teachers who presently fall under Job Group C2 and earn Sh34,955, would get Sh38,287, translating to Sh3,332 raise. Those in C3 and earn Sh43,154 were to earn Sh45,670.

According to the deal presented by TSC, teachers who fall C4 and C5 would not get an increment in the first year of the implementation.

Majority of C4 teachers are head teachers of primary schools. And those who fall in C5 are teachers who by 2017, had hit the ceiling of job group M/N and were then bundled to the new grade.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Secretary General Akello Misori yesterday faulted TSC, saying teachers in this grade are not administrators and are also the lot that has stagnated for years.

In the presented deal, teachers who fall between grades D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5 would only get 2.4 per cent increment.

For those who fall in D1, upon full implementation, they would get a minimum salary of Sh79,410 from the current Sh77,840, an increase of Sh1,570.

Those in D2 would get a minimum salary of Sh92,161 from Sh91,041, while teachers in D3 and currently earning a minimum of Sh104,644 would receive Sh105,720.

According to the deal, teachers in groups D4 and D5 would also not get a pay rise in the first year. Those in D4 are largely heads of county and extra-county schools, and D5 are principals of national schools.

While Kuppet, whose majority members are secondary school teachers, rejected the offer, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) welcomed the deal.

Although both unions did not sign the agreement and were asked to study the proposals and respond to by Monday, Misori said in members sought an increase of between 30 and 70 per cent.

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“Their (TSC) proposal, according to their mathematics, is lower than the teachers out there expect, even not within what the President announced,” Misori said.

He said President William Ruto and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission advised that teachers and civil servants salaries be raised by between seven and 10 per cent.

He also rejected the proposal to have the increment implemented in two years.

“So, you can imagine how deceitful the TSC is and how they are prolonging our anxiety. We have given them up to Monday to come up with tangible proposals which we can talk about,” he said.

Knut Secretary General Collins Oyuu, however, said that the proposals by TSC reflected their desire to have teachers from the highest paying grades get lower increments.

“We cannot forget that in the 2017-2021 CBA, classroom teachers were given a raw deal. The CBC benefitted administrators and what we proposed was a complete inversion to allow the classroom teacher gets the 9.5 per cent increment and the highest earning gets 7 per cent,” Oyuu said.

He said that the increase is meant to caution teachers against the harsh economic times.

“The proposal by TSC to increase the salaries between 2.4 per cent and 9.5 pe rcent is welcomed and meets the president’s order of between 7 to 10 per cent increment when spread out through all job grades,” he said.

The union had proposed an increase of 60 per cent for the lowest earners and 50 per cent for the highest earners.

The unions are expected to meet TSC on Monday after discussing the proposals.

“These are negotiations and we cannot put demands on the negotiations. Teachers have stayed for a long time without pay rise so we can wait longer for teachers to get what they rightfully deserve,” Misori said.

House allowance

It has also emerged that the TSC plans to make adjustments on the housing allowance.

Currently, the house allowance is put into four clusters. Teachers within Nairobi get the highest amount, followed by those in other cities and main municipalities.

Then cluster three are those in former municipalities, while cluster four are teachers in rural areas who earn the least perks.

Under the TSC proposal, cluster four will be rolled up and included to cluster three, a win for teachers in rural areas.