Today’s national budget is in favor of teachers in terms of salary increase and allocation.
This year’s national budget, which will be the last under President Uhuru Kenyatta, will be read today.
The Ksh 3.3 trillion budget will be read early to give Members of Parliament time to deliberate on the key components of the budget, including proposed revenue sources and expenditure plans for the fiscal year beginning July 2022.
Below we have outlined a list of benefits for various teachers and sectors that will harvest from the budget.
1. To get increment with grades C4, C5, D1, D2, D3 and D4 dues
Teachers will benefit greatly from the budget to be taught. One of the benefits is salary arrears for the category of teachers which the TSC said it will pay post-budget.
The commission says that it will pay teachers in grades C4, C5, D1, D2, D3 and D4 as they have not yet achieved the maximum pay marks provided in the pay banding mentioned in CBA 2017 – 2021.
TSC says that it will extend the pay points for these grades from 1st July 2020.
The commission says it will pay teachers their increments along with arrears from the date they received the maximum pay point till January 2022.
“The arrears will be processed by July 2022 when the funds become available,” the commission said.
Below is a summary of the incremented pay points from grades C4 to D4.
Pay Point C4 Pay Point C5 Pay Point D1 Pay Point D2 Pay Point D3 Pay Point D4
1 52,308 1 62,272 1 77,840 1 91,041 1 104,644 1 118,242
2 55,604 2 64,631 2 85,269 2 93,850 2 107,873 2 121,890
3 56,347 3 67,080 3 87,900 3 96,745 3 111,201 3 125,651
4 58,482 4 69,622 4 89,748 4 99,730 4 114,632 4 129,528
5 60,698 5 72,260 5 90,612 5 102,807 5 118,169 5 133,524
6 62,998 6 74,998 6 91,041 6 105,979 6 121,815 6 137,644
7 65,385 7 77,840 7 93,408 7 109,249 7 125,573 7 141,891
Negotiations between TSC and teacher unions KNUT, KUPPET and Kusnet to include the funding component in CBA 2021 – 2025 were suspended.
The KUPPET push to resume talks by issuing strike threats also flopped.
After the collapse of negotiations, teachers may miss the usual pay increases they receive annually after budgeting as a result of the CBA signed.
Teachers in grades B5, C1, C2, C3 and D5 may not see anything that affects their pay.
2. Money for recruitment of new teachers.
TSC boss Dr. Nancy Macharia, appearing in parliament, had requested some Sh5.3 billion to recruit 8,000 teachers for a 100 percent transition.
Macharia also told the Education Committee that $1.2 billion would be needed to recruit 6,000 interns.
TSC said it is recruiting 5,000 teachers annually to match the increased enrollment in public schools.
Macharia thanked the government for separating Sh. 2.5 billion to recruit 5,000 teachers this year.
In budget estimates, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani had allocated an additional Sh14.9 billion to the TSC, whose budget has increased from Sh281.7 billion to Sh295.9 billion in the new fiscal year.
During resource sharing in the Sector Working Group, the Commission stated that it had been allocated $295.9 billion for recurring expenditure against an estimated requirement of 310.5 billion.
TSC will receive an additional Sh15 billion for the 2022 – 2023 fiscal year. Initially there were rumors that the commission would use the extra money to pay salaries to the teachers.
TSC, however, denied the claims. Instead it said it would use sh15 billion to employ 13,000 secondary school teachers and 9,000 apprentices and face an expected increase in enrollment when junior secondary starts in January 2023.
The commission made this point through a report that was submitted by the Parliamentary Budget Office to the Education and Research Committee of the National Assembly.
The Commission also noted that the priorities identified in the budget and medium term for 2022/23 were informed by the Strategic Plan of 2019-2023 and Medium Term Plan III of Vision 2030.
During this period, TSC proposed to recruit 25,000 teachers, of whom 13,000 on permanent and pensionable terms and 12,000 interns annually for the next three years. Despite the lack of funding, the commission said 15,000 additional teachers were recruited and deployed for support. Implementation of cent percent transition in secondary school.
The commission further informed that some 5,000 teachers were employed in the financial years 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 respectively.
Similarly, TSC developed a framework for hiring teachers on internship and 28,300 were recruited. In 2019/2020, some 10,300 teacher interns were recruited, while 12,000 and 6,000 were recruited in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years respectively.
3. Money for promotion and posting of teachers
TSC boss Nancy Macharia told the committee that it would require Rs 2 billion for the promotion of teachers on competitive selection.
The Commission has been promoting teachers in various cadres as per the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG).
TSC is also promoting primary school teachers with a degree in secondary option to teach in secondary schools.
The commission appoints 1,000 practicing P1 teachers each year to teach in secondary schools.
The advertisement for the promotion of teachers usually happens in September every year.
Affirmative action for teachers in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) leads to the promotion of teachers to administrative grades.
TSC is awaiting funding to confirm the work capacity of school administrators in ASAL areas only.
4. Money for Biometric Registration and TPAD and PC Practice
For the implementation of Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) and Performance Contract (PC), the TSC boss said the agency is seeking 10 million.
TSC said it has postponed the biometric registration process, which was planned to start in March due to paucity of funds.
“An estimated Ksh50 million is required for the teacher counseling and coaching program, while the national biometric enrollment and verification of tutors will be rolled out at a cost of Ksh 342.4 million,” Macharia said in parliament.
5. Funding for other key areas of the sector
The commission proposed training grade six and seven teachers in preparation for 2023, when the first CBC group would move to junior secondary at a cost of Ksh 2.52 billion.
TSC has organized the training of 60,000 secondary school teachers in April 2022.
The commission also proposed automating and integrating its system for paperless operations at a cost of Sh335 million, rolling out national biometric enrollment and verification of teachers worth Sh342.4 million, but this was not funded .
TSC seeks the construction of a 600 million facility for gratuity and additional county office housing to 3,358 contract teachers in the North Frontier, costing Sh183.6 million.
The commission is seeking funds for implementing the new difficulty areas after the conclusion of the difficulty review exercise and submission of the report.
