Unions Demand TSC Meeting on Teachers Salary Increase, Following Ruto’s Review Initiative
Teachers are pleased with President William Ruto’s plan to reevaluate teacher pay beginning in July.
The President has recommended a seven to ten percent pay raise for lower-level government employees, to be implemented in two installments.
Teachers’ union leaders made the argument that, given the country’s high inflation rate, the change was long overdue.
Kuppet Akelo Misori, secretary general of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), expressed gratitude to the President for hearing their concerns.
‘‘We appreciate President Ruto for taking our concerns and putting on hold the benefits to other state officers but looking down on the down trodden members of the Public Service Commission including teachers,’’ Misori said.
Misori, on the other hand, pushed for a meeting between the TSC and the unions to discuss the rate of review.
‘We urge the TSC to urgently call for a seat with us so as to draw a clear line on the percentage we are going to accrue to teachers. Our hope is that teachers will be given the 10 percent,’’ he stated.
According to Misori, Kenya’s education system faces persistent problems with access, quality, equity, and transition despite maintaining a regional leadership position.
He claimed the commission was being insincere by ignoring the SRC’s 2016 proposal to increase government employee salaries.
After the commission ignored unions’ request to increase the salary of teachers, this news comes as a welcome relief.
Collins Oyuu, secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, echoed the praise for the Head of State, stating that the move was long overdue and a huge relief for educators.
‘‘Talk of civil servants, talk of increasing their packs then don’t look at them as being without the teachers in mind. We are not basically left out and however little they will give us, we will receive with the right hand and open the left hand for more,’’ Oyuu said.
Oyuu pointed out that the union had previously submitted their demands to the President, and that Ruto seemed agreeable to it.
He said, “We had given our case to him and it was not an open condition for the housing levy, our engagement with him had indicated that something should be done if he really wanted to push teachers in this line.
Johnson Nzioka, head of the Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association (KEPSHA), said that teachers will welcome any salary increase given the current economic climate.
‘‘That is a great thing to the teachers given that they are also expected to pay other statutory deductions imposed by the same government. Given the cost of living has shot up, that was overdue,’’ Nzioka said.
Peter Sitienei, chairman of the Kenya Union of Special Needs and Training (KUSNET), has argued that teachers should be highly compensated because they are the “touch bearers” of the government’s programs.
He said teachers have a significant impact on shaping the future of our society, so it is time to reevaluate the compensation they receive. He advocated for the promotion and fair compensation of educators working in the field of special education.
According to him, the attempts of teachers to provide students with a high-quality education have been hampered by issues like delayed capitation, infrastructure needs, low pay, and unequal distribution of school resources.
Unions Demand TSC Meeting on Teachers Salary Increase, Following Ruto’s Review Initiative
