Teachers set for promotion as parliament gives nod to Shs 2 billion budget

Teachers are the biggest beneficiaries of President William Ruto’s first budget after National Assembly (NA) approved Ksh2.2 billion additional funding to Teachers Service Commission’s (TSC) set specifically for promotions, recurrent expenditure in the 2023 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) for 2023/24 Financial Year (FY) reveals.

The report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) on the 2023 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) was adopted, paving way for the National Treasury to prepare and present the budget estimates to the NA by April 30, 2023.

According to the recommendations of the Budget and Appropriations Committee contained in a report signed by the chairperson Ndindi Nyoro, the additional funding on the commission’s Teacher Resource Management, which is part of unfunded priorities in the BPS, is meant for promotion of teachers, implying that teachers with higher qualifications and who have stagnated in the same job group for long will now have a reason to smile.

Commission Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Nancy Macharia told legislators when she appeared before its education committee on February 14, 2023 that if TSC gets Ksh2 billion every FY, the issue of stagnation will be a thing of the past.

She revealed that the last time the commission received money for promotion of teachers was in 2011.

The commission had requested for Ksh2.17 billion to promote a total of 12,634 teachers in the 2023/2024 FY, which starts July 1, 2023.

The estimated budget entails a total of Ksh600 million to promote 4,595 primary school teachers from C1 to C2, Ksh1 billion to promote 4,750 diploma teachers from C2 to C3, Ksh400 million to promote 2,637 graduate teachers from C3 to C4, and Ksh175.03 million to promote a further 652 graduate teachers from D3 to D4.

Currently, the commission is conducting promotional interviews of 13,713 teachers, majority of whom for administration positions, after the vacancies were re-advertised in January 2023.

However, the BAC in their report recommended a total of Ksh322,674,600,000 for TSC in the 2023/2024 FY to cater for teacher resource management, governance and standards, general administration, and planning and support services.

The approved parliamentary budget estimates entails a total of Ksh321.5 (321,535,600,000) billion as recurrent expenditure and Ksh1.13 (1,139,000,000) billion as capital expenditure.

The changes came after the BAC reduced TSC recurrent expenditure by Ksh58,443,517 from what the National Treasury allocated in its 2023 BPS, which was tabled in the NA by Leader of Majority Kimani Ichungwa on February 15, 2023.

The National Treasury had proposed to allocate a total of Ksh322.73 billion of the general education sector proposed allocation of Ksh544.51 billion, whereby Teacher Resource Management was allocated Ksh314.09 billion of which Ksh312.99 billion was to go to recurrent expenditure while Ksh1.09 billion was to go to development under capital expenditure.

The approval comes at a time the commission has started reviewing the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), more specifically the salary component.

“The commission negotiated a non-monetary 2021-2025 CBA with the teacher unions pursuant to the advisory from Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC). Further it was agreed that the CBA would be reviewed mid-term pursuant to improved economic status of the country,” Dr. Macharia told the legislators.

KNUT pushing for 60 pc salary increment

Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) on the other hand has been pushing for a 60 per cent salary increment in their quest for a revision of the 2021-2025 CBA to reflect the six years that they have gone without reviews.

If the proposal were to be accepted, the highest paid teacher at Grade D5 would take home Ksh252,249.6 per month from the current Ksh157,656; while the lowest at Grade B5 will pocket Ksh43,512 from the current Ksh27,195.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) meanwhile is pushing for classroom teachers’ salaries at grades C2 and C3 to be increased by 70 per cent, as administrators  at grades D4 and D5 get a 30 per cent raise as they were favoured in the 2016-2021 CBA.

This means the lowest paid teacher at Grade C2 is to earn Ksh59,425 from the current Ksh34,955 on the minimum and Ksh74,280 from the current Ksh43,694 on the maximum.

The highest paid at Grade D4 will speculatively earn Ksh153,715 from the current Ksh118,242 on the minimum and Ksh184,458 from Ksh141, 891 on the maximum.

The union is also pushing for teachers to get four new allowances in addition to what they enjoy currently under the 2021-2025 CBA, which are risk, overtime, post-graduate and accommodation allowances.

By Roy Hezron

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