Teachers to receive pay rise as State releases Sh13b salary deal

Teachers' Service Commission (TSC) CEO Nancy Macharia. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

The government has released Sh13 billion to fully implement the second phase of teachers' pay deal.

Calculations by The Standard reveals that teachers will get an increment of up to Sh2, 570 for the least paid, to Sh393 for the highest earners.

This means that the new salaries of the lowest paid teachers will range between a minimum of Sh23, 830 to a maximum of Sh29, 787.

The new salary scales for highest paid teacher will range from a minimum of Sh131,389 and a maximum of Sh162,539.

In addition, teachers will also benefit from four allowances: commuter, house, leave and hardship.

The allowances will range from Sh3,850 to a maximum of Sh50,000. Specifically, commuter allowance will range between Sh4,000 to Sh16,000.

Those who will get housing allowance will be paid Sh3,850 and Sh50,000. While leave allowance has been put between Sh4,000 and Sh10,000.

Teachers who will get hardship allowances will be paid between Sh6,600 and Sh38,100.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) chief executive Dr Nancy Macharia said the salary adjustments will be reflected in teachers' August payslips, with arrears backdated to July 1, 2024 when implementation was set to begin.

This means that teachers will get more money at the end of this month when the backdated amounts are released.

The boom comes after the teachers received a similar increment last year in the first phase of 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

On Wednesday, Teachers Service Commission (TSC) said it had received the billions to implement the pay increment fully.

“After today's discussions, the Commission is pleased to announce that the Government has provided funds for the implementation of the 2d phase of the CBA with effect from July 1, 2024,” Dr Macharia said after meeting unions.

This means that over 370,000 teachers across the country will receive a salary increase as the second phase of the CBA, from August.

Teachers in pay Grade B5, the lowest-ranking teachers, will get a minimum pay rise of Sh1,037. This means that their salaries will increase from Sh22,793 to 23,830. However, the highest scale earners in this job group will take home Sh29, 787.

This is the final implementation of the deal signed in August last year by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) and the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (Kusnet).

On Wednesday, Dr Macharia, said that the necessary funds have been allocated to facilitate the payment.

In their joint statement, the unions said: “The Commission confirmed that it had received the full budgetary allocation for the CBA,” unions statement said.

“Accordingly, teachers would receive their full benefits and arrears for July in their August payslips. The payroll was to be concluded later today for teachers to receive their salaries immediately, the Commission assured us.”

Even with the assurance to fully honour the CBA deal, KNUT and KUPPET maintained that their strike will continue, citing the TSC's failure to address other outstanding issues.

These include the promotion of 130,000 teachers and the confirmation of 46,000 intern teachers.

Dr. Macharia, however urged teachers to return to work on Monday for the start of the Third Term, emphasizing that the government has released the funds required to implement the second phase of the CBA.

Other issues that the trade unions said must be resolved include a review of the Career Progression Guidelines and remittance of third-party deductions.

The unions also want issues on medical scheme resolved so that members can access public and private hospitals.