Teachers cry foul over allowances
Photo/FILE
Knut chairman Wilson Sossion (left) said the government had continued to ignore the salary deal, which would see it pay teachers 20 per cent more in medical allowances. With him is secretary-general David Okuta Osiany at a past press conference.
Teachers are pushing for a 50 per cent increase in their house allowances.
They are accusing the government of overlooking the 1997 pay deal that recommended that house allowances be increased by 50 per cent.
Currently, teachers receive house allowances of up to Sh40,000 per month for the most senior staff.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) chairman Wilson Sossion said the government had continued to ignore the salary deal, which would see it pay teachers 20 per cent more in medical allowances.
Commuter allowances were also to go up by 10 per cent, under the agreement, while hardship allowances were to go up by 30 per cent.
Currently, heads of schools with single streams receive Sh750 per month, while those at schools with 10 streams take home Sh7,500.
Allowances for deputies range from Sh200 to Sh2,000. Hardship allowances vary from Sh3,055 per month for a teacher in job group F to Sh11,037 for one in job group R.
Mr Sossion was reacting to news that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) had announced a 20 per cent salary increment for teachers from July 1.
The agreement comprised the last phase of the three tranches that were agreed between Knut and the Education ministry.
Mr Sossion said the government lacked sincerity in dealing with the plight of teachers and wondered how it could pay the salaries and continue to overlook the issue of allowances.
“Whereas we thank the government for clearing the 2009 salary agreement, it bewilders us why it has continued to ignore the agreement on allowances, which has been pending for over a decade now” Mr Sossion said.
“Unless we keep it (government) on its toes, we will not be able to get anything,” he said. Mr Sossion said the teachers had a right to good housing and medical care.
In a circular by TSC secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni, teachers of public primary and secondary schools will receive a pay rise of up to Sh15,000 per month from July.
The new salaries, to benefit the country’s 240,000 teachers on TSC’s payroll, will be for the third and final phase of a pay agreement with Knut whose implementation began in 2009.
According to the new pay, the highest paid teacher, a chief principal, will receive a salary increase of between Sh11,489 and Sh15,056.
The teachers in this category are in job group R.
