By Staff Reporter
It is a major boost for teachers at lower salary points in each Job Group after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) merged various grades into one pay scale giving them a huge leap in basic take-home package.
This follows a decision by the teachers’ employer in October 2019 to merge CBA salary conversion tables for the three phases from 2017-2019.
The last phase of the CBA commenced on 1st July 2020 and is expected to end in June this year to pave way for a new CBA, which will run from 2021-2025.
For instance the lowest earning Chief Principal, who was initially at Grade D5 at salary point 1, who before the conversion used to take home Sh121, 814 per month by 1st July 2019, received an additional increase of Sh9,566 to a new monthly basic salary of Sh131,380. This was after they were banded together at grade D5 with their fellows, who were at salary points 2 and 3; who used to earn Sh125,573 and Sh129, 528 respectively before conversation to the same grade.
Those at salary point 7 and 8 with initial salary of Sh152,937 and Sh157,656 respectively are now banded together at salary point 5 with the same basic salary of Sh157, 656 which is a major boost to those who were at salary point 7 who received an increase of Sh4, 719.
On senior Principals who are at Grade D4-T-Scale 14 as of 1st July 2020 in the last phase of the CBA, those at salary point 1 with a basic monthly salary of Sh109, 249, and being grouped together at salary point 1 with their fellows at salary points 2 and 3; will now earn a new salary of Sh118, 242 which is an increase of Sh8, 993.
Principals and Deputy Principals I at Grade D3-T-Scale 13 all were grouped into one salary point with a new monthly basic pay of Sh104,644, which was a huge win for those who were in salary points 1 and 2 who got an increase of Sh10,794 and Sh7,899 respectively from Sh93,850 and Sh96,745 respectively, while those at salary point 3 used to earn Sh102, 807.
Deputy Principals II, Senior Master I and Senior Lecturer I at Grade D2-T-Scale 12 are now in one salary point as from 1st July 2020 with a new basic salary of Sh91,041, an increase of Sh8,324 for those who were at salary point 1 and Sh3,141 for those who were at salary point 2.
Senior Master II, Deputy Principal III, Senior Head Teacher, Senior Lecturer and Curriculum Support Officer I at job grade D1 who were at salary point 2 after being grouped together to one salary point with those at 3, received an increase of Sh5,027.
Initially the teachers at salary point 2 used to earn Sh80,242 and now after grouping their new basic salary was moved to Sh85,269, while those initially at salary point 3 after being moved to the same salary point received an increase of Sh2,552 from Sh82,717.
Senior Master III, Senior Lecturer III, Head Teacher, Deputy Head Teacher and Curriculum Support Officer II at grade C5 T-scale 10 at salary points 1-5 are now grouped into one salary point of 1 with a new salary of Sh62,272, with the highest winner being those at salary point 1 who received a total of Sh10,640. Those at salary points 2-5 initially used to earn Sh53,730, Sh55,909, Sh58,171 and Sh60,533 in that order.
Senior Master IV, Senior Lecturer IV, Special Needs Education (SNE) Senior Teacher, both at primary and secondary schools, and Deputy Head teacher II, who are at grade C4 T-Scale 9, those who used to be at salary points 1-4 now form a new salary band of 1 with a new basic salary of Sh52,308.
The winners in this new conversion are those who initially were at salary point 1, who received a huge chunk of Sh7, 021 from Sh45, 287 to a new salary, while those initially at salary points 2-4 were on basic salary of Sh47, 400, Sh49, 629 and Sh51, 632 in that order before being grouped in one salary point with a slight increase in salary.
Secondary Teacher I, Lecturer I, SNE Teacher I at primary school and SNE Teacher II at secondary school, and Senior Teacher I at grade C3 T-Scale 8, who initially were at salary points 1-9, were all put together in a new salary point of 1 with a new basic salary of Sh43,154; which was a big win for low earning teachers at salary point 1 initially, who received an increase of Sh4,623 from Sh38, 531.
Secondary Teacher II, Secondary II-UT graduate, Secondary Teacher II-Technical Certificate, SNE Teacher II at Primary school level, Lecturer II and Senior Teacher II at job grade C2-T-Scale 7 who initially were at salary points 1-4, are now both grouped into one salary point of 1 with a new basic salary of Sh34,955.
The biggest winner in this cadre of teachers are those who were at salary point 1 who used to earn Sh31,242 who received an increase of Sh3,713 after being converted to a new salary point.
Others were those with initial salary points from 2-4 who used to take home Sh32,975, Sh33,971 and Sh34, 955 with a slight increase of about Sh1,000 and Sh2,000.
The changes, however, were a disadvantage to teachers at job grade C1-T-Scale 6 who include Secondary Teacher III, Secondary Teacher III-UT Certificate, Lecturer III and Primary Teacher I, and those at job grade B5-T-Scale 5 who included Primary Teacher II; who retained their initial salaries and allowances as of 1st July 2019.
However, all teachers who are under the Career Progression Guidelines were awarded CBA Phase 4 from 1st July 2020, while those teachers under the Schemes of Service (SOS) were not converted to CBA Phase 4 hence retaining the CBA Phase 2 salaries.
In addition, teachers who qualified after serving for three years and above on Grade B5 were upgraded to Grade C1 from 1st July 2020 and adopted July as their incremental month.
But those under Schemes of Service (CBA 2) were not upgraded to Grade C1.
Also not upgraded are teachers who had discipline cases, for whom the employer used personal files to determine the effective date of upgrading upon completion of two years after reporting from interdiction. This affected 1,932 teachers who had discipline cases.
