The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is seeking Sh56 billion over the next four years to raise salaries for teachers.

Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia said although trade unions signed the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), it didn’t contain any monetary value, a move that would now be the subject of a review.

“The commission negotiated a non-monetary 2021-2025 CBA with the teacher unions pursuant to the advisory from the Salaries Review Commission. It was agreed that the CBA be reviewed mid-term if the economic situation would improve in the country,” Dr Macharia told members of the National Assembly Education and Research Committee chaired by Julius Melly on Tuesday.

She added: “The Commission would wish to review the 2021-2025 CBA, more specifically the salary component with an aim to motivate teachers under the employment of the Commission.”

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“Accordingly, we request this Committee to support the Commission get Sh14 billion per year for four years to cater for the same.”

Dr Macharia also announced plans to recruit 20,000 new teachers in the next financial year to address the shortage of staff mainly at the Junior Secondary School level.

She urged Parliament to allocate the Commission Sh3.8 billion for the recruitment in the next budget to be presented in June.

The announcement comes just a month after the TSC recruited 30,000 teachers the majority of them who were posted in the Junior Secondary School with each institution receiving at least one member of staff.

Stakeholders have raised questions over the staffing crisis in schools arguing that one teacher was inadequate top handle all the 12 subjects on offer at the Junior Secondary School level.

But Dr Macharia said the Commission was determined to fix the shortage of teachers, which stood at 116,000 at the start of this year.

Dr Macharia also asked the Education Committee of Parliament to push for the approval of Sh2.2 billion for the promotion of 14,000 teachers who have stagnated at one job grade for long.

“The commission has received several requests from teachers, teacher unions, stakeholders among others on promotion of teachers who have stagnated in the same job group over the years and also those who have attained higher qualifications,” Dr Macharia said.

She added: “Admittedly, we have not been able to promote these teachers because the commission has not received promotion funds since the implementation of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement. This has in turn tainted the Commission’s image.”

To address the stagnation outcry, “the Commission requires Ksh2.2 billion to carry out the promotion of teachers in different job cadres”.

The Azimio presidential flag bearer Raila Amollo Odinga has targeted teachers in his presidential vote hunt. In his manifesto, better salaries for teachers and reduced entry grades to teacher training colleges have been added.

The ODM party leader maintained that demotivated teachers cannot produce competent professionals for the labour market, hence there is need to motivate teachers. If elected, Raila promised to hold a meeting with teacher representatives with an aim of getting to know their demands, and how the demands can be fulfilled to end the injustice that teachers have faced overtime.

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Although the government rubbished petitions by a section of leaders from the North-eastern to lower teacher college entry grades claiming that such would lower education standards, Azimio’s presidential aspirant, Raila Odinga also promised to relook into the issue if he ascends to power.

The ODM leader who was recently in Wajir said urgent solutions are required to address the challenges facing the education sector in the fickle Northern Kenya.

“Insecurity made teachers run away. To address the problem, we will push for special affirmative action programme in admitting students from ASALs into teacher training institutions and universities,” he a rally in Wajir’s Orahey grounds.

The trainees,he said will create a local committed workforce to serve as teachers and education officers in the arid region.

Raila added that he will put up low cost boarding schools in each Sub-county in the ASALs and that he will elevate the poverty level in the arid region.The ODM supremo promised to build a resilient livestock economy which is the backbone of the region.

He said that his administration will embark on an education programme to alleviate poverty which affects children’s education during biting droughty season, like in the present situation.

Members of parliament have proposed a petition which will see primary school teachers that further their studies get promoted by the teachers’ service commission, TSC.

Should the get adopted, all PTE teachers who furthered their studies will be recognized and promoted by TSC.

February 24^th, the parliamentary Education and Research committee resolved to invite the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to respond to a petition tabled in Parliament seeking to compel the employer to acknowledge degrees attained by in-service teachers from recognized universities.

The petition, presented by ODM nominated MP Wilson Sossion, wants Parliament to recommend that the TSC puts in place policy guidelines to promote or upgrade teachers who successfully acquire qualifications from recognized institutions in line with international best practices.

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The Commission does not want to promote primary and secondary school teachers who lack grade C+(plus) in KCSE exams including C+(plus) in the teaching subjects.

However, the committee, chaired by Busia MP Florence Mutua, said that the petition had raised pertinent issues that need to be urgently discussed and addressed within the shortest time possible.

“As a committee, we have supported the petition and agreed to invite the TSC to shed light on the issues raised. We have also agreed to urgently hear the petition and ensure we capture the cash needed to implement this in the next budget” Ms Mutua said.

In the petition signed by teachers Martha Omollo,Eva Muchemi and Salvin Munene,they want the MPs to enquire into the circumstances under which the TSC has since 2014 unilaterally declined to recognize diplomas, undergraduate, and graduate and post graduate degrees earned by in-service teachers from recognized universities.

“That in the interest of self-improvement, many teachers have progressively advanced their qualifications by pursuing and successfully earning high qualifications, ranging from diplomas, bachelors, masters and even doctoral degrees,” reads the petition.

The three teachers are members of the Kenya National Teachers Pressure Group (KNTPG), which the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Collins Oyuu has dismissed as “an illegal group with no rights to speak for teachers”.

The TSC Act,2012, emphasizes the need for the commission to require every registered teacher to undertake career progression and professional development programme to be promoted.

In 2015, the commission abandoned the schemes of service, which considered the academic qualification when promoting teachers, and introduced the Career Progression Guidelines(CPGS), which focuses on teachers’ performance for promotions.

Mr Sossion said thousands of teachers have acquired higher qualifications but the commission has refused to recognize them, and insisted on using the CPGs.

“Your humble petitioners pray that this House, through the departmental Committee on Education and Research intervenes in the matter,” reads the petition.

Existing data shows that more than 30,000 teachers who acquired higher degrees and diplomas are yet to be promoted.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (Kuppet) Chairperson Omboko Milemba said the shift from schemes of service to CPG disadvantaged many teachers who had acquired loans to further their studies, in the hope of being promoted.

“Majority of those affected were primary school P1 teachers who went back to school and acquired diplomas and degrees, a large number of secondary school teachers also went back to school and acquired undergraduate degrees for those who had diplomas, Masters degrees while others hold PhD and are still in class with no promotion,” said Milemba.

Milemba, who is also the Emuhaya MP and a member of the Education Committee said the introduction of CPGs wasted the efforts made by teachers to further their studies.

The promotion of teachers using the CPGs was among the issues that brought friction between TSC and Knut during Session’s tenure as the secretary-general at the union, leading to endless court battles.

The Kenya Union Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has threatened that all teachers will down tools within seven days if the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) declines to honour the unions’ demands.

KUPPET has re-negotiation demands and proposals of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which it wants the teacher’s employer to meet prior to the national examinations set to begin next week.

They are demanding that the Commission increases pay for teachers with higher education qualifications, ultimately improving the quality of education in schools across the country.

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“When you go to some schools, there are teachers with more than three Ph.D. qualifications. There are even more senior members with higher qualifications than some education directors and yet their pay continues to be general pay…” KUPPET Secretary General Akello Misori noted.

According to KUPPPET, TSC is an unkind employer, who doesn’t enhance teachers’ capacity nor their contribution to education in the country.

They are also demanding that post-graduate allowance be included in the negotiations, besides basic pay, leave and house allowances, for teachers with higher qualifications.

Additionally, KUPPET wants commuter allowance raised from Sh5,000 to Sh8,500 and from Sh16,000 to Sh20,800 for the lowest and highest paid teachers respectively, translating to a rise of between 30 per cent and 70 per cent.

Misori confirmed that the union wrote to TSC on January 17 demanding the re-opening of the CBA within 21 days.

“All the commission has done is to acknowledge our letter and promise to respond at a later stage after ‘interrogating’ the contents.”

The union had asked for a salary raise of between 30 and 70 per cent for the highest-paid and the lowest-earning teachers.

Workers in the public sector, teachers and civil servants will have their pay reviewed regularly after the national assembly quashed a directive that had restricted all pay negotiations to be done after four years.

Parliament revoked three circulars from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), which had limited collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) to a four-year cycle for all workers in the public service.

MPs ruled the circulars unconstitutional since they violate workers’ rights to engage in collective bargaining with the employers as provided by Article 41(5) of the Constitution.

The Article stipulates that “every trade union, employers’ organization and employer has the right to engage in collective bargaining.”

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“Considering that the Guidelines limit the right to collective bargaining, they must be enacted in strict adherence to constitutional dictates set out in Article 24 of the Constitution,” the MPs said in a report.

This means workers, through unions will be free to negotiate for new pay increases which the commission had frozen. In June 2021, the SRC froze salary increments for all civil servants for two years starting July, darkening their prospects of better fortunes amid tough economic times occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The suspension affected basic salary, allowances and benefits of all government workers forcing unions to threaten to stage a boycott from work.

The Treasury has been struggling to raise revenues to run the bloated public wage bill that consumes more than half of taxes, impeding spending on development projects.

Teachers’ unions and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) have however striked a deal leading to signing of non-monetary CBA.

“We are happy to announce that all parties have reached a deal. We have signed a new CBA 2021-2025 but there is room for strengthening it in the future,” said TSC Chief executive Nancy

The teachers service commission, TSC, has confirmed that teachers will have to wait for four years to enjoy enhanced salaries as the employer seals any hopes for review.

In a circular released to guide implementation of the 2021-2025 CBA, TSC guidelines on new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) affirmed that tutors will continue to enjoy old salary rates. 

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Even the allowances will be laid based on old rates as has been the case under the just ended 2017-2021 CBA which pushed teachers’ pay higher.

However, TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia says teachers will enjoy enhanced leave days and flexible transfers that would help bring closer families that had been separated by distance.

“To achieve the family values enshrined in the constitution, the commission shall consider transfer requests for married couples to appropriate stations/locations subject to availability of vacancies, the need for suitable replacement, existing staffing norms and proof of marriage among other factors,” a circular by Macharia says.

The CBA was signed between the commission and three unions; Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) on July 13, 2021.

It will run up to June 30 2025. At the time CBA was signed, the unions said that they had agreed that TSC would revisit the salary component, in July.

Teachers across the country can now have a sigh of relief since the efforts by Mvita Member of Parliament to recover their 2021-2025 CBA is bearing observable fruits.

Abdulswammad Sherrif Nassir, the MP for Mvita, has strongly pushed TSC to present a counter CBA 2021-2025 proposal to the teachers and ensure that negotiations are completed so that teachers get a new CBA by July.

“Pursuant to the provision of the standing order no. 44, 2 ©, I seek to request a statement from the chairperson of the departmental committee of education, regarding renewal of teachers CBA,” began the legislator in parliament.

Nassir confirmed that teachers have a lot of anxiety since the current CBA is about to expire yet there are no hopes for the next CBA.

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“The current CBA between the teachers service commission, TSC and teachers across the country is set to expire in a matter of weeks, thereby creating unwarranted anxiety among teachers.

Nassir also blamed the negotiations delay on TSC, claiming that KNUT and SRC have done their parts yet TSC has failed.

“Already the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), as well as the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, (SRC) have submitted their respective CBA proposals but TSC is yet to forward any proposal from its end,” stressed Nassir

The MP for Mvita therefore sought a statement from the chairperson of the departmental committee on education, responding to the following questions:

1. Within which specific timelines is the TSC planning to submit its CBA proposal for teachers in order to renew the current CBA?
2. How many KNUT members have either not been promoted or have not received salary increment as per the current CBA.

In response, Florence Mutua, the chairperson of the parliamentary committee on education revealed that there is something for teachers at the end of the month.

“CBA is coming to an end. I met madam Nancy this morning and she said she will look into the matter urgently. We are expecting a response as soon as possible. We have to have something for teachers at the end of the month,” said mutual before parliament.

She also asked about the counter proposal and was told she will get response in a week.

With the 2017-2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) having been implemented fully by the Teachers service commission, TSC, plans are underway to launch the 2021-2024 CBA. Up to now, there has not been a proper agreement between the TSC and the teachers’ unions, KNUT and KUPPET concerning the 2021-2024 CBA.

On basic salary, KNUT proposed an increment of between 120 % and 200 %. The rival KUPPET advocated for an increment of between 30 % and 70 % on the basic salary.

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The teachers’ service commission, TSC, proposed an increment of between 16 % and 32 % on the basic salary. The TSC CBA proposal was bilaterally opposed by both unions, KNUT and KUPPET. The two unions claimed that they were negotiating for perks slightly better than what the TSC proposed.

The teachers’ service commission however sneaked their proposal to the Salaries and remuneration commission, SRC, without reaching a consensus with KNUT and KUPPET.

If the SRC approves the TSC proposal document, then all teachers will have their basic salaries increased by between 16 %- 32 %. Teachers in lower job groups will be favoured compared to those in higher job groups in 2021-2024 TSC CBA proposals.

A summary of the additional salaries teachers will earn if the proposal is approved is in the table below. Even though teachers in higher job groups will get a lower percentage increase, their overall increase may still be higher than those in lower job groups since their current basic salaries are far much higher.

Teachers in job group D5 for instance will have a salary increase of between ksh. 21,020- Ksh. 25-224 while the highest earning teacher in the lowest job group, B5, will take home an additional ksh. 8,702.

Members of job group C3 however may earn higher increments than their counterparts in job groups C4, C5 and D1 since the percentage increments will favour C3 and the difference in the current basic salaries between C3 and the three will not neutralize the net increment.