Teachers with Diploma, Masters, PhDs Set For Promotions and Payrise
Several teachers who have acquired higher qualifications while in the profession could be promoted and added salaries following National Assembly recommendations after a successful petition by a splinter union.
Martha Omollo, Kenya National Teachers Pressure Group (KNTPG) spokesperson petitioned Parliament to push the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to promote teachers with diplomas, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees acquired during the service.
Subsequently, the 12th Parliament on its final sitting recommended that TSC should recognize and acknowledge higher qualifications acquired by teachers while in service.
“The TSC should within six months of adoption of this report open negotiations with teachers’ unions on the Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs) and uphold the rights of teachers who have acquired relevant qualifications at the time of their in-service.
“Further TSC shall give guidelines on relevant courses to be undertaken by teachers,” reads the report.
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According to the legislators, the promotions would be “in accordance with UNESCO/ILO recommendations of 1966 that acknowledge the intellectual rights of teachers who undertake and conclude relevant in-service courses.”
The teacher’s employer stopped the automatic promotions which were based on the Schemes of Service in 2014, and replaced it with the Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs) in 2016.
The members of parliament have also instructed the teachers’ employer to submit budgetary requirements for promotion of all eligible teachers in the 2023/2024 financial budget estimates for consideration by the National Assembly.
This new development will be a very big win for big win for Omollo. In 2021, Omollo accused TSC of victimisation after being transferred from Nairobi to Trans Nzoia County.
The petition was presented before the House on February 18, 2022 by Nominated MP Wilson Sossion on behalf of Ms Omollo. Mr Sossion quit as Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary-general after having a fractious relationship with the TSC.
“These recommendations are now compulsive to TSC. This should have been petitioned a long time ago,” Mr Sossion revealed.
The unions supported the promotion of teachers who acquired higher qualifications while the commission defended the Code of Regulation for Teachers and the CPGs, saying the two instruments provide the minimum qualification required for each job grade and the conditions to be met before a teacher is promoted.
“TSC should promote teachers who graduated before 2014. They used their resources to study but they have now stagnated in the same job group. We speak for teachers because the unions no longer speak for us,” said Omollo.
Previously, primary school teachers who attained a diploma in education or a degree were automatically promoted to Job Group K and L respectively.
