Windfall for teachers as TSC releases new salaries

Teachers will today be a happy lot after the Sh54 billion salary deal money was wired to their accounts.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) released full details of the hefty payment for the 312,060 teachers.

“Teachers will access their salaries from Saturday, July 29, (today),” said TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia.

TSC signed Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) for the period 2017 –2021.

Implementation of the deal was scheduled to start on July 1, and will be effected in two or four phases for highest paid and lowest paid staff respectively.

Some 156,000 teachers who are lowest paid – job group H, J and K – will have their salary spread across two years.

Ms Macharia said the new salaries have been processed based on a new expanded grading structure.

Grading now changes to B5, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5 from lowest to highest paid.

Previously, teachers were graded from G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, and R.

This means under the new grading system the lowest paid teachers fall between B5 to C2, and will take home a maximum pay of between Sh21,757 and Sh43,694. The increment will be implemented in two phases.

The rest of the teachers who fall under the higher pay grade – job group L to R – will have their salary spread over four years.

Under the new grading system, these teachers fall under job group C3 to D5 and earn between Sh43,154 and Sh157,656.

“The salaries for all the 312,060 teachers have now been converted to the new grading structure and individually placed on respective new pay points,” said Macharia.

The lowest paid teacher under job group B5 who currently earns Sh16,692 will take home Sh19,224.

Allowances

The highest paid teacher in this category will get a maximum Sh24,250. These are primary teachers (II), according to TSC brief.

At full implementation in July 2018, they will take home a maximum Sh27,195.

Teachers under the old grade K and J will all be collapsed under the new grade C1. The teachers currently earn between Sh19,323 and a maximum Sh29,918.

Under the CBA, they willtake home a minimum Sh27,195 and a maximum pay of Sh33,994.

These are ordinary primary and secondary teachers (III). Secondary teachers (I) and senior teachers (I) who are currently under job group L will now be graded under C3 and shall get their pay spread across four phases.

Their current pay ranges between Sh35,910 and Sh45,880. They will now earn between Sh37,721 and Sh47,896 under the first phase.

Subsequent increments will be made in July next year, 2018, 2019 and 2020. This means that in 2020, their pay bracket will range from Sh43,154 to Sh53,943. Deputy head teachers (II) who currently fall under old job groups of G, H, J, K and L will all be graded under C4.

The lowest paid teacher under this category will take home a minimum of Sh26,610 and a maximum of Sh47 896.  At full implementation, they will get a maximum of Sh52,308.

Head teachers, deputy head teacher (I), and senior master (III) who currently fall under G, H, J, K, L and M will now fall under new grade C5.

They will earn a maximum of Sh62,272 at full implementation of the CBA. Today, the teachers will find between Sh29,427 and Sh58,226 in the bank. Senior head teachers, senior master (II) and deputy principals (IV) who currently fall under job group M and N will now be graded under D1.

Their salaries will today range from Sh55,231 and Sh77,840. At full implementation, they will earn between Sh77,840 and Sh85,269. Deputy principals (III) who are the current job group N holders will now fall under new grade D2. They will get Sh91,041 at the end of the CBA implementation.

Today, the teachers will find in the bank between Sh59,286 and Sh77,840.

Principals currently graded under job group M and N and earn between Sh41,590 and Sh65,290 will now fall under new job group D3. They will earn a maximum of Sh104,644 after full implementation of the CBA.

Today, they will get between Sh59,286 and Sh77,840. Senior principals who are currently placed at job group P and earning between Sh77,527 and Sh103,894 will fall under the new grade D4.

They will receive between Sh87,900 and Sh109,249. Their maximum pay  after full implementation of the CBA will range between Sh118,242 and Sh121,890.

Chief principals who are the highest paid teachers currently earning between Sh89,748 and Sh144, 928 will fall under job group D5. These teachers will today find in the bank a salary of between Sh102,807 and Sh148,360.

After full implementation of the CBA, they will take home a maximum of Sh131,380 and Sh157,656. Macharia said the new salaries reflected on pay slips are per the implementation matrix agreed on by the teachers’ unions.

In addition to the new salary structure, she said teachers will continue drawing all the applicable allowances.

“All allowances–House, leave, commuter and hardship–will continue to be paid out with the basic salary every month. Teachers with visual impairment and those using wheel chairs will continue drawing disability guide allowance,” said Macharia.

The CEO explained that responsibility and special school allowances have been incorporated into the new salary structure and significantly enhanced in line with the responsibilities held by particular teachers.

“This will further ensure that the teachers benefit substantially from an improved retirement package when they eventually exit from the teaching service,”she said.

But that is not all: “The Commission urges teachers to rededicate themselves to the noble task of providing quality learning to the Kenyan children.” [Additional report by Paul Thoronjo]