160,000 teachers set to get pay raise

The new financial year brings good tidings for some 160,000 teachers as they are set to start earning new salaries from next month. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Senior principals in Grade D4 (Job Group P) earning between Sh99,730 and Sh114,432 will now take home between Sh109,249 and Sh118,169.
  • Principals in Grade D3 (Job Group M and N) earning between Sh77,840 and Sh90,612, will now take home between Sh93,850 and Sh102,802.

  • Deputy principals III, Grade D2 (Job Group N) earning between Sh71,565 and Sh85,269, will now earn Sh82,717 and Sh87,900.

The new financial year brings good tidings for some 160,000 teachers as they are set to start earning new salaries from next month.

The increase in salaries for teachers holding administrative positions — senior teachers, deputy headteachers, headteachers, deputy principals, senior principals and chief principals — will cost the taxpayer Sh13 billion.

FOUR PHASES

However, primary teacher II, primary teacher I, secondary teacher III, secondary teacher II, secondary teacher II and primary special needs education categories will not benefit from this third phase of implementation of the new salary structure as theirs was effected in only two phases starting July 2017.

The pay increase for the senior teachers is being implemented in four phases, until June 30, 2021. The second phase, which covered all teachers at a cost of Sh18 billion, will be concluded on June 30, 2019. The first phase, implemented from July 2017, cost Sh13.7 billion.

According to an implementation matrix signed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), teachers will continue getting other allowances, including house, hardship, commuter, annual leave and disability guide.

 TSC stopped paying the Sh10,000 to teachers in special schools as allowance from July 1 last year and, instead, the money was consolidated with their salaries.

According to the pay matrix, chief principals earning a basic salary of between Sh111,201 and Sh152,937 will now earn between Sh121,814 and Sh157,656. Chief principals fall in Grade D5 (Job Group Q and R).

Senior principals in Grade D4 (Job Group P) earning between Sh99,730 and Sh114,432 will now take home between Sh109,249 and Sh118,169.

Principals in Grade D3 (Job Group M and N) earning between Sh77,840 and Sh90,612, will now take home between Sh93,850 and Sh102,802.

Deputy principals III, Grade D2 (Job Group N) earning between Sh71,565 and Sh85,269, will now earn Sh82,717 and Sh87,900.

MEMORANDUM

Senior teachers, senior masters and deputy principals IV in Grade D1 (Job Group M and N) earning between Sh66,177 and Sh80,242, will now take home between Sh77,840 and Sh82,717 while headteacher, deputy headteacher I and senior master III in Grade C5 (Job Group G to M) earning between Sh40,849 and Sh60,000, will now take home between Sh51,632 and Sh62,272.

Deputy headteacher II in Grade C4 (Job Group G to L) earning between Sh35,927 and Sh49,912, will now take home between Sh45,287 and Sh51,632.

Secondary teacher I and senior teacher I Grade C3 (Job Group L) will now earn between Sh41,343 and Sh51,927 from the current salary of between Sh39,532 and Sh49,912. 

Senior teacher II, secondary teacher II and secondary II UT and primary special need education teacher in Grade C2 (Job Group G to J) will earn between Sh31, 242 and Sh33,971 per month.

These teachers are currently earning between Sh27, 325 and Sh32, 988.

The implementation of the four-phase deal is expected to cost Sh54 billion (2017-2021).

Already, Knut has prepared a memorandum of demand, seeking to have the TSC start pay negotiations that will see teachers earn new salaries and allowances with respect to the prevailing hard economic times.

“The new CBA in line with the International Labour Organisation standards should not take more than two years,” said Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion.

He said the move is to give the government enough time to prepare and budget for the CBA whose implementation will start on July 1, 2021.