TVET lecturers want council set up to take care of salaries

Kenya Association of Technical Training Institutions chairperson Glory Mutungi greets Education Ministry Administrative Secretary David Yatich Kipkemei at PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort in Mombasa. [Omondi Onyango, Standard]

Technical trainers who were transferred from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to the Public Service Commission (PSC) in 2018 want the Government to establish a council for them.

The estimated 7,000 lecturers who fall under the umbrella of the Kenya Association of Technical Training Institutions (KATTI) want a Technical Trainers Service Council to be established to cater for their welfare.

In a petition to the Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha at the end of a weeklong capacity building workshop for principals and deputies at a Mombasa hotel, the trainers said the council would develop a human resource policy and address salaries, training and promotions, which have stalled since the transfer.

Yesterday, KATTI chairperson Glory Mutungi said the council would be key in their placement of the trainers to the right job groups.

She said the council will also ensure fair and objective handling of technical trainers and ensure funding for their further education.

“Establishment of the council for technical trainers will address the harmonization of salaries and allowances in comparison with other institutions,” Mutungi said.

They handed their demands to the secretary for administration in the Ministry of Education Yatich Kipkemei. The Standard Group is the media sponsor for the forum formally opened by Prof Magoha last Monday.

Mutungi said the council will ensure implementation of career progression path and set aside funding for the retraining of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (Tvet) trainers. She said since 2018, there has been no rise to higher job groups, and many trainers wished to go back to the former commission.

“We were promised Canaan, but we are still in the middle, maybe in the forest,” she said, adding that the TVET Act of 2013 and the TSC Act are conflicting.

She said were it not for their calibre and patience, they would have resorted to street demonstrations, but they have decided to use diplomatic means. In 2018, some 3,780 lectures and institution administrators transferred to PSC. The number has grown to about 7,000.

Meanwhile, Kipkemei cautioned the lecturers against the confrontation with their employer, saying it would cause them problems.

“Embrace dialogue. You should not choose the path taken by Kenya National Union of Teachers and confront the employer,” he said.

He told the TVET heads to secure their institutions' land by acquiring title deeds.

“There are 156 technical institutions with land disputes. Desist from spending public funds to build structures on land that does not belong to the Government,” he said.