Pay talks underway as TSC promotes teachers

A total of 10,000 teachers have been promoted by their employer after interviews conducted in March and April.

The Teachers Service Commission in a statement said the effective date for promotion is May 3.

"Letters for the successful applicants will be released to respective TSC county directors starting Monday (tomorrow) for onward transmission to the teachers.

"It is anticipated that all letters will have been dispatched in two weeks’ time," TSC’s head of communication Kihumba Kamotho said.

JOB GROUPS
The teachers were among 27,000 short-listed for interviews conducted by the commission in February in various parts of the country.

They include 2,351 secondary school teachers who have been promoted from Job Group ‘L’ to ‘M’ and 1,800 secondary school teachers who have moved from Job Group ‘M’ to ‘N’.

Another 943 secondary school principals and deputies have been promoted to Job Group ‘N’ from ‘M’.

Mr Kamotho added that 1,500 headteachers and deputies in primary schools have been promoted from Job Group ‘L’ to ‘M’ while 1,011 and 469 classroom teachers in primary schools will move to Job Groups ‘M’ and ‘N’ respectively.

"Some 500 graduate headteachers and deputies in primary schools have been promoted from Job Group ‘G’ and ‘H’ to Job Group ‘K’," he added.

CBA
Other staff who have been promoted to Job Group ‘M’ and ‘N’, Mr Kamotho said, include lecturers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training Institutions (TVET), Curriculum Support Officers, tutors in teacher training colleges, and officers at the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (Cemastea) and the Educational Assessment and Resource Centre (EARC).

"TSC will continue addressing terms and conditions of service for all teachers to motivate and support their career progression in the teaching service as a way of attracting and retaining staff," he said.

He added that preparations for implementing the collective bargaining agreements signed with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) are under way and the first phase will begin from July 1.

REWARD TEACHERS
Talks planned for last week between the unions and the TSC on the payment schedule were postponed to a later date.

The CBA will take Sh13.7 billion annually and will run from July 1 this year to June 30, 2021.

It provides that teachers can only be promoted on the basis of their performance in school and not experience.

However, Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion said more teachers should be promoted as a way of motivating them.

Kuppet chairman Omboko Milemba, for his part, said his union welcomed the promotions but said that more of its members should be given promotions.