By Roy Hezron
More than 50,000 non-teaching staff in Public Secondary Schools have gone without salaries and allowances since the onset of Covid-19 in March 2020.
The Kenya Union of Secondary Schools’ Non-Teaching Staff (KUSSNTS) Secretary General Nahashon Ndiemae who spoke to Education News most recently said that the union had written to the Ministry of Education seeking an urgent intervention as the school workers are suffering.
“Other workers were not recalled back to work after the schools were reopened while others have salary arrears accruing from March 2020”, said Ndiemae.
He added that “Since the phasing out of the GP 33 in 1991 under which non-teaching staff were engaged in permanent and pensionable terms, and the consequent gazettment of the Education Act regulations legal notice no. 262, the workers have endured intense misery.”
According to a letter the union wrote to the Ministry of Education dated May 20, 2021 and received by the Principal Secretary in the State Department of Early Learning and Basic Education, the union seek the Ministry to intervene in addressing the issue of unpaid leave and salary arrears facing the non-teaching staffs in public schools.
In particular, the union wanted the Ministry to intervene and policy directing discriminative unpaid leave, unpaid leave indefinitely and nonpayment of salary year 2020.
“It is like some school administrators were looking for grounds to punish workers because many schools have not paid workers for several months and others have not recalled those sent home on unpaid leave after schools were closed,” reads the letter.
When Education News conducted the Principal Secretary, State Department for Early Learning and Basic Education Dr. Julius Jwan to find out if the matter has reached his desk for redress, he said it has not but he has notified Director, Secondary Education to check and inform him.
“This has not reached my office. But, I have alerted Director, Secondary to check and let me know,” said Dr. Jwan in a short message when Education News reached him for comment.
According to Ndiemae, among the challenges that Secondary Schools’ non-teaching staffs encounter includes low pay, lack of job description, lack of appointment letters, long working hours, lack of job security, unsafe working conditions, lack of retirement package, denied allowances, mistreatment, lack of scheme of service, and frustration and dismissal when one joins a trade union.
“Non-teaching staff are not represented in the BOMs which is composed of Principal, two teachers, the Church, community, six parents, the area Member of Parliament and none of them represent the interest of the non-teaching staff,” lamented Ndiemae.
National Administrator Alexander Muthiani who also doubles up as the Eastern Regional Secretary added that the Ministry doesn’t have the data of the non-teaching staff working in the public schools hence under budget for them, with some being discriminated in their working stations as some BOMs don’t offer fair hearing in cases concerning disciplinary hearings.
“It isn’t clear how much money the ministry sends to school for staff salaries since the same is combined with other vote heads leaving the Principals to decide how much they would allocate for salaries, travel, bills among others,” stated Muthiani.
Parliament attempted to rescue them in 2011, by unanimously passeing a motion that was sponsored by then Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni that instructed the Ministry of Education to formulate a Scheme of Service for non-teaching staff.
After the passage of the motion, the then Minister for Education Prof. Sam Ongeri promised to fastrack an amendment to the education Act, to enable the employment of the school workers directly by the ministry a promise which has never been fulfilled to date.
In 2015, the then Minister of Education Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi gazetted the Basic education Act regulations (legal notice no. 39.) especially on the appointment of non-teaching staff, terms of service for non-teaching staff and remuneration.
The Education News has established that the findings and recommendations of an education task force chaired by Kilemi Mwiria in 2014 on Remuneration of Support Staffs in schools have never been implemented.
During that time, the Mwiria-led team recommended that non-teaching staff in secondary schools be paid a salary of up to Sh41,000 on the highest part, proposed qualifications for each category, and further recommended that recruitment of staff be pegged on students’ enrollment and the number of streams per school.
In a court ruling in 2017(cause no .168 of 2016) before the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi which involved 34 employees of Nyeri primary school versus the Board of management, the court ruled that school employees are civil servants who should be employed on permanent and pensionable terms, and remunerated as per the circulars issued from time to time by the ministry of public service.
The court further ordered the Cabinet Secretary for Education at that time being Dr. Fred Matiang’i to cause the implementation of the ruling across all public schools, although it is not clear whether the CS implemented it or not.
The union has approached the Parliamentary Education Committee and the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC), Education CS as well as the Public Service Commission (PSC) to facilitate the amendment to the basic education Act so as to have school workers hired directly through the County Education Boards.
The union has equally supported the recommendation by the ministry of education to hire school financial managers so as to improve accountability for funds provided by the ministry.
The Union was officially registered in May 2017 and currently has a membership of over 50, 000 countrywide representing Bursars, Accounts clerks, School Secretaries, Librarians, Laboratory Technicians, Storekeepers, Cateress, Cooks, Security Guards, Ground Men and Women, Matrons, Nurses, Drivers and Kitchen hands among others.
