Teachers’ joy in 41 per cent pay rise

• A letter detailing generous salary increases for all public school teachers went out on Friday ahead of planned implementation from July 1
• Government implements second phase of agreement with Knut

All public school teachers have been given a pay rise of up to 41 per cent.

From July 1, the lowest paid teacher will earn an extra Sh1,426 and the highest paid get Sh30,112 a month. Kenya has nearly 240,000 teachers in public schools.

The lowest paid teacher, at the tail-end of P2 level or job group F, will now earn Sh13,037, up from Sh11,611 per month.

This represents an increment of 12.2 per cent.

The highest paid teacher, a chief principal on job group R, will now earn Sh105,214 per month, up from Sh75,102, a 41 per cent increment.

In July 2007, the salary of a chief principal was Sh44,990 meaning it has more than doubled in three years.

Chief principals in Nairobi will cumulatively earn Sh154,00 in salaries and allowances per month based on the new pay.

Other allowances are house (Sh40,000), medical (Sh4,412), boarding (Sh800) and commuter (Sh4,410).

Principals who head schools with up to 10 streams can earn another Sh7,500 per month.

House allowances range from Sh2,300 for the least paid teacher to Sh40,000.

Teachers are also paid a uniform commuter allowance ranging from Sh767 for the most junior to Sh4,412 for the most senior teacher per month.

Like the first phase that was effected in July last year, the new increments are higher for senior teachers.

A total of 240,000 teachers in primary, secondary and colleges employed by the Teachers Service Commission will benefit from the increment, which would greatly cushion them during the hard economic times.

A circular containing the massive increments was sent out by TSC boss Gabriel Lengoiboni on Friday.

The salaries were in tandem with the agreement signed between the government and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) last year.

The pact was reached following an 11-day work stoppage by teachers to force a salary review.

Phases

The parties agreed that the salary raise be implemented in three phases, the first of which came last year.