The P1 teachers with ‘A’ level academic qualifications have now petitioned for their salary arrears ranging from 1996 to 2010 to the Senate even as Senators decry the unapproachable mien of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Nancy Njeri Macharia.
Ms. Ruth Kabui and other P1 teachers in their petition, read by the Senate Speaker Amason Jeffah Kingi on May 23, 2023, are praying that the Senate intervenes in the matter with a view of recommending to the National Treasury and Economic Planning to factor in the budget to enable payment of salary arrears to the teachers.
“In July 1996, the then Directorate of Personnel Management of the Teachers Service Commission issued a Scheme of Service for non-graduate teachers, giving the requirements for appointment and promotion for non-graduate teachers, the said schemes were implemented by the Commission after which an attendant regrading was required,” explained the petitioners.
They further submitted in their petition that: “The then Ministry of Education, Science and Technology through the Chief Inspector of Schools requested all District Education Officers, Municipal Education Officers and City Director of Education to submit the names of trained Primary School Teachers 1 (P1), with “A” level academic qualifications countrywide to the Ministry.”
They added that: “The Ministry thereafter proceeded to grade untrained “A” level teachers who had attended a two weeks programme at Kagumo and Bondo Teachers Training colleges to Secondary School Teachers 1 (S1), locking other “A” Level Primary School Teachers 1 (P1), who had not attended the course resulting to complains by the Primary School Teachers 1 (P1) “A” level trained teachers.”
Further, the petitioners argue that those teachers who were promoted in the year 1996 are yet to receive their salary arrears since the date of promotion which is contrary to Standard Labour Practices an issue that they want the Senate to intervene and address.
“Another group of Approved Teachers IV (ATS IV) were also promoted in the year 1996, the then Scheme of Scheme of service for non-graduate teachers stipulated that the existing Secondary School Teachers 1 (S1), promoted to Primary School Teachers 1 (P1) were to convert to Approved Teachers IV while Teachers with Diploma Certificates would convert to Diploma Teachers, additionally, in July, 2010, the Primary School Teachers 1 (P1), were also promoted but were not issued with promotion letters,” emphasized the petitioners.
While contributing to the petition, the Senators stated that the issue of non-payment of salary arrears for the stated group of teachers is affecting most of the counties with Kwale Senator Boy Issa Juma stating that he has been dealing with such teachers in his county.
However, Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi wondered whether the country’s teacher employer will comply with the resolutions of the house regarding the matter since there are many issues touching on teachers which have been resolved by parliament but TSC has not implemented.
Osotsi added that something needs to be done on TSC for not complying with parliamentary motions, decrying that Dr. Macharia cannot be reached; a position that was supported by his Wajir counterpart Senator Mohamed Abass who stated that what is happening at TSC is very unfortunate and that the Commission CEO is unapproachable.
“The TSC CEO Madam Nancy Macharia is so powerful Mr. Speaker that you can even go to her office and decide not to see you. We have gone there so many times, you sit in the waiting room for hours and she cannot see you,” decried Osotsi.
“And then eventually she sends her Personal Assistant to come and see you. Mr. Speaker it is high time that this country gets rid of State Officers who behave larger than life like Nancy Macharia,” he added.
The Petition was committed to the Standing Committee on Education and as the Standing Order 238(2) stipulates, the Committee is required, in not more than 60 calendar days from the time of reading the prayer, to respond to the Petitioners by way of a Report addressed to the Petitioners and laid on the table of the Senate.
This cadre of teachers were promoted from P1, Approved Teacher Status (ATS)-4 and ATS-3 to ATS-1 (Job Group ‘L’) on account of their qualifications in 2010 but were not paid their arrears.
The teachers have since been on the warpath with TSC and the National Treasury over the delayed arrears saying that they were due for promotion in 1996 when their colleagues who took a two-week course at Bondo and Kagumo Teachers Training Colleges were promoted to S1 grade.
By Roy Hezron
Get more stories from our website: Education News
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
