The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has increased salaries for all tutors and changed the classification of housing allowances, but this will only result in marginal increases for selected job groups.
Those in the lowest job grade of B5, which comprises primary school teachers will receive an increase of 4.5 per cent, the highest, while those in the highest group grade of D5 will receive an increase ranging from 1.9 per cent to 3.1 per cent, depending on their salary point.
The increase means that the lowest paid teachers(Job Grade B5) earning Sh22,793 will now take home Sh23,830 plus a house allowance of Sh3,850.
Other allowances such as hardship, annual leave and commuter allowance remain unchanged. Teachers receiving the lowest increase are those in Job Grade D3 (Principals and Deputy Principals) who will only take Sh861 more from Sh105,182 to Sh106,043.
Those with the highest job grade of D5(Chief Principal) will receive Sh4,056 for those with the highest salary point and Sh3,005 for those with the lowest salary point.
The salary points vary within the same job grade as one job grade can have different categories of teachers. For example, teachers in job grade C5 which comprises Senior Master III, Senior Lecturer III, Head Teacher, Deputy Head Teacher I and Curriculum Support Officer II will have an increase of between Sh984 and Sh2,608. The new salaries will be backdated to July 1, 2024, and will be effective till June 30, 2025.
While the majority of the allowances remained unchanged, those in Job Grade D4, which comprises Senior Principals have had their house allowances reduced with those in Cluster 1 (Nairobi) now taking home Sh45,000 from Sh50,000, those in Cluster 2 (Mombasa, Kisumu, Nyeri, Nakuru, Eldoret, Thika, Kisii, Malindi and Kitale) have had their allowance reduced by Sh7,000. Those in Cluster 3, which represents all other parts of the country will receive Sh21,000, which is Sh4,000 less than what they currently get.
The commission has also done away with Cluster 4 for house allowances and combined them with those in Cluster 3.
“The house allowance rates clusters have been reviewed from 4 to 3. Cluster 4 rates have been phased out and the teachers previously earning house allowance rates in this cluster will adopt house allowance rates for Cluster 3,” the circular reads.
About 87 per cent of teachers work in rural areas, which were classified as Cluster 4. The amount they will receive is however unchanged from what they have been earning since last year.
Last week, a standoff ensued between the teachers’ unions and their employer after union officials came out of the negotiation room to accuse the employer of failing to meet all their demands.
The TSC officials had asked for a joint press conference but Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers and Kenya National Union of Teachers refused and the two groups addressed the media separately. TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia at the time said the delay to implement Phase II of the 2021-2025 collective bargaining agreement was due to budget cuts across government ministries and agencies.
