By Roy Hezron
Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers have every reason to smile after the Council of Governors (CoG) agreed to implement the Scheme of Service and prepared new salaries for ECDE teachers which will be effective in July this year.
The decision by the governors was reached during the Council of Governor’s meeting on December 20, 2021 where the ECDE function was discussed.
The County bosses through their Council resolved that the CoG Secretariat should share with all the County governments the approved ECDE Teachers Scheme of Service.
The council also resolved that the governors should consider providing additional resources in the 2022/23 financial year which will begin in July this year for implementation of the Scheme of Service.
The council’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ms. Mary Mwiti through a letter dated January 5, 2022 asked all County Executive Committee Members in charge of Finance, Education and County Secretaries to use the approved Scheme of Service when recruiting new ECDE teachers referred to as pre-primary teachers under the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to forward to you the ECDE Teachers Scheme of Service to guide in the recruitment and Career progression of pre-primary teachers for implementation,” read the letter in part.
The resolution by the Governors through their Council to agree to implement the scheme is a major win to teachers through their union, the Kenya Union of Pre-Primary Education Teachers (KUNOPPET) which has been pushing for the implementation of the scheme since it was drafted in January 2018.
The Council also came up with new salaries and allowances for ECDE teachers. The move will see the basic salary for ECDE teachers being increased as per their qualifications and harmonized across all counties.
Under the new salary structure, ECDE teachers who are Certificate holder at Job Group ‘F’ will be earning a basic monthly salary of Sh 16,250, Diploma holders at Job Group ‘H’ will be earning Sh 27,195 while Degree holders at Job Group ‘K’ will be earning Sh 33,994 as monthly basic salary.
Apart from the monthly basic salary, teachers will enjoy housing allowance which will vary between Sh 2,700 to Sh 16,500 depending on qualification and County where the teacher is.
Certificate holders (Job Group F) will get commuter allowance of Shs 3,000, Diploma holders (Job Group H) will earn Shs 4,000 while degree holders (Job Group K) will earn Shs 5,000 for Degree holders across all counties.
Each county will also be paying varying amounts of Pension to teachers according to their qualifications and Job Group under the new salary structure.
Considering the above elements, an ECDE teacher who is a Certificate holder in Makueni County will be the highly paid since the Gross salary will be Sh 24,387. Those in Nairobi will have a Gross Salary of Sh 23,750.
Diploma and Degree holders in Nairobi will be the highest paid with Sh 37,945 and Sh 55,494 respectively.
KUNOPPET Secretary General Mr. Samuel Opiyo told Education News that they are going to engage the relevant stakeholders and authorities to address the issue of promotion since the new salary structures does not factor in promotion.
“It means an employee will stagnate in that salary for ever. As a union, we must engage the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and the GoG so as to address the aspect of promotion,” said Opiyo.
The Scheme placed the teachers under six (6) grades of Assistant ECDE Teachers at Certificate level, six (6) grades of ECDE Teachers at Diploma level and seven (7) grades of ECDE Teachers at Graduate level.
At Certificate level, the six cadre of teachers the scheme established are Assistant ECDE Teacher III, II and I whom the scheme allocated new Job Groups of F, G and H and Senior Assistant ECDE Teacher III, II and I who are allocated Job Groups J, K and L.
At Diploma level, the six (6) cadres of teachers the scheme established are ECDE Teacher III, II and I at Job Groups H, J and K respectively and Senior ECDE Teacher III, II and I at Job Groups L, M and N respectively.
At Graduate level, the scheme established seven (7) cadres of teachers which include Graduate ECDE Teachers III, II and I who are placed under Job Groups K, L and M respectively, Principal Graduate ECDE Teacher II, Principal Graduate ECDE Teacher I (Assistant Director), Senior Principal Graduate ECDE Teacher (Deputy Director) and Chief Principal Graduate ECDE Teacher (Director) were placed under Job Groups N, P, Q and R respectively.
According to the Schemes of Service, the grades of Assistant ECDE Teacher III (Job Group F) and Assistant ECDE Teacher II (Job Group G) who are Certificate holders will be Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Mean Grade of D+ (plus) while Assistant ECDE Teacher II (Job Group G) and Assistant ECDE Teacher I (Job Group H) who are also Certificate holders should have KCSE Mean Grade of C (plain).
The ECDE Teacher III (Job Group H) and ECDE Teacher II (Job Group J) who are both Diploma holders and Graduate ECDE Teacher III (Job Group K) and Graduate ECDE Teacher II (Job Group L) formed a common establishment for the purpose of the Scheme.
According to the Scheme of Service, the entry into the service will be through direct appointments notably in the grade of Assistant ECDE Teacher III (Certificate Level) (Job Group F), Assistant ECDE Teacher II (Job Group G), ECDE Teacher III (Diploma Level) (Job Group H) and Graduate ECDE Teacher III (Job Group K) provided that a candidate has the minimum basic qualifications prescribed for the grade in the Scheme of Service.
The recognized qualifications under the Scheme are the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Mean Grade of D+ (Plus) or KCE division IV, KCSE minimum grade of C (Plain) from Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) or its recognized equivalent, Certificate in ECDE offered by KNEC or Ministry of Education or its approved equivalent, Proficiency Certificate in ECDE offered by KNEC and a Diploma in ECDE offered by KNEC or its approved equivalent.
Other qualifications are a Degree in ECDE offered by any accredited institution of higher learning or its approved equivalent, a Masters of Education Degree in ECDE or any other relevant Masters in Education from a recognized institution of higher learning or university and a Certificate in Computer Applications.
Serving ECDE teachers as per the scheme are to adopt the designations provided in the Schemes of Service though they must be in possession of the minimum qualifications stipulated in the scheme for the present grades.
However, for advancement to higher grades, all ECDE teachers are supposed to be in possession of minimum qualifications and/or experience for subsequent grades as prescribed in the Schemes of Service.
ECDE teachers are currently being remunerated and employed under different terms of services in different counties.
The teachers have been receiving a raw deal since most counties have no formal engagement with them. There have been glaring pay disparities from County to County with non-observance of the scheme of service, a situation that has been a center of conflict between the teachers through their union and various county governments.
At one point, the teachers opposed direct employment by the county governments and instead wanted to be transferred to the TSC. The teachers accused the counties of poorly managing pre-primary education centres, since there are no teachers to handle the many existing ECDE centres.
The scheme was aimed to provide a well refined career structure that will attract and retain suitably qualified and competent ECDE teachers in the service. It also aims to offer well-defined job descriptions and specifications with clear delineation of duties and responsibilities at all levels within the career structure, which will ensure proper deployment and utilization of ECDE teachers.
In addition, the scheme was to establish standards for recruitment, training and advancement within the career structure on the basis of qualifications, knowledge of the job, merit and ability as reflected in work performance and results. It is also to ensure appropriate career planning and succession management.
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