New teachers, TSC in row over pay raise

By Sam Otieno

Some teachers who taught in private schools before they were hired in public service have accused their employer of withholding millions of shillings meant to compensate them for the time they taught.

The teachers are entitled to salary increases, called incremental credits, and are supposed to claim the money.

However, some say they are not aware the new regulation that allows them to do so.

The fund is catered for in the budgetary allocation to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for teachers who join public service after teaching in private schools or public ones but under boards of governors.

In the deal implemented in 2005, some teachers have received between Sh10,000 and Sh50,000 depending job group and years served before employment by TSC.

But TSC says the procedure of paying incremental credits is well documented in the Code of Regulations and blamed teachers for not reading the code.

Teachers have claimed no circular has been issued on the matter. But TSC Senior Deputy Secretary Josephine Maundu said: "Once we put regulations in the Code of Regulations Teachers, there is no need for a circular."

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Fake documents

She said each school is supposed to have two copies of the code, one in the staffroom and the other for the head teacher.

Ms Maundu said not every applicant receives the incremental credit because some teachers send fake documents.

The increment is in Regulation 31 Section 3 (C) which states that a teacher with approved teaching experience may be considered for incremental credits provided the maximum salary scale of the grade is not exceeded.

Those who qualify should have taught for a full year to benefit from the increase. "We have a way of detecting those who present false letters. We go back to their files and check the documents they sent when they applied for employment," said Maundu.

The official went on: "If the dates do not tally, we cancel the payment."

Only a few teachers have benefited because majority are unaware of the payments.

New policy

Teachers who have received the money say they learnt of the new policy through colleagues. Others allege corruption, saying TSC employees effect the payment for a fee ranging between Sh5,000 and Sh10,000.

"It is very difficult for the commission to tackle this challenge and that is why we tell teachers that services at TSC are free of charge," Maundu said.

According to her, teachers who are yet to receive the increment should apply.

"They are supposed to bring their first letter of employment from the head teacher of the school they taught," she said.

The amount of money teachers are paid is derived from a teacher’s annual increment multiplied by the number of years they served before they were hired by TSC. If a teacher’s annual increase is Sh2,000 and has served six years before TSC employment, the teacher is entitled to a Sh12,000.

The amount is added to the basic salary and paid monthly. This means teachers hired at the same time on the same salary might eventually get different pay if some had taught for a longer period before TSC hired them.

Teachers who qualify for the incremental credit are supposed to apply for the money and take to TSC certified copies of appointment letters from the schools they actually taught.

The policy was introduced after the Government lifted a 1998 freeze on teacher hiring in 2001. Since then, secondary school teachers are hired by boards and primary ones at the DEOs offices.

Between 2001 and 2006, the TSC only replaced teachers who had left the service through resignation, death, and sacking or for greener pastures.

Recruited 4,000

But in 2007 and last year, it additionally recruited 4,000 and 6,000 respectively.

Recruitment of teachers had been stopped by the Government in a move that was intended to cut on spending in the education sector.

The teachers’ payroll was kept constant at 235,000. It has since risen to 245,000. The increase was in response to rising enrolment in primary schools due to free education introduced in 2003.

The teachers’ monthly wage bill has since risen to about Sh6 billion. The funding of education also takes a huge chunk of the Budget, Sh135 billion of this financial year’s Sh760 billion.

The Education ministry got Sh112 billion and Higher Education Sh22 billion.