Big win for teachers but do they deserve it?

Tuesday’s ruling by the Industrial Court was a major victory for the Kenya National Union of Teachers, which has fought vigorously over the years to better its members’ earnings.

The 50-60 per cent pay rise awarded by the court is the biggest in a decade. The last time the union secured a hefty pay rise for its members was in 1997, coming after a long strike that paralysed education and forced President Moi, who was faced with an election, to intervene by getting his Head of Public Service, Mr Fares Kuindwa, and other top technocrats to take over the negotiations.

A deal was reached and teachers were awarded a pay increase of between 150 and 200 per cent spread over five years. However, the teachers never benefited as envisaged.

After winning the elections, Kanu reneged on the payment schedule, extending it to 10 years, which meant the teachers were to lose earnings in absolute terms. This was only reviewed after Narc, which came to power in 2002, reduced the payment period to six years.

Since then, the teachers have not earned any significant pay boost and they have routinely gone on strikes to push for higher incomes, without much success.

Whereas the teachers have a reason to smile, there are critical issues that come to mind. The first is the ability of the government to pay the new high package. Given their numbers, any slight raise in the compensation deals a major dent on the Education Ministry’s budget, which currently, consumes about 40 per cent of the national budget.

PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING

The salary increase is coming at a time of debate about teachers’ productivity. Two things are currently happening within the government, but which the teachers have rejected. The first is performance contracting that is being rolled out for all public sector workers, pegging compensation on output.

Both Knut and its sister, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers Union (Kuppet) have vehemently rejected it, arguing that their performance is always measured with the grades their candidates attain in national exams. Secondly, the government has rolled out a job evaluation, which the unions have opposed on the basis that as professionals, they know their duties and their jobs’ worth and should not be bothered by anyone.

In particular, the concern has been that teachers have the preponderance of seeking higher pay but do not deliver, given the perennial poor performance of public schools in national exams as compared to private schools. Although there are intervening factors such as shortage of staff and inadequate teaching and learning resources, it is argued that teachers in public schools do not give as much attention to learners as they should.

A recent report on Education For All, published by Unesco, indicated that chronic teacher absenteeism, poor teaching skills, lack of mastery of subject content and ineffective supervision are the common features in public schools. Even when they attend classes, the interaction of teachers with the students was ineffective.

In recent weeks, cases have emerged of teachers molesting school children, leading to the Teachers Service Commission sacking more than 100 in one fell swoop. A number have found themselves in court to face charges of child molestation.

In a nutshell, the argument is that teachers deserve better pay but this must be matched with productivity to ensure value for money.

Moreover, the implications of higher pay to education financing and provision of other social services must also be taken into account.

For now, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has signalled his intention to appeal the judgment and it might take a while before the pay trickles into teachers’ pockets. But the court ruling provides fundamental lessons on teacher management, education financing and labour relations in the education sector.

Mr Aduda is the Nation Media Group’s head of Business Development