TSC to pay teachers August salaries from Wednesday

Teachers employed by Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will have to wait till end of this week for them to get paid their August salaries.

Teachers will get a salary boom this month as the Commission is set to pay August salaries with increment arrears backdated to 1, July 2024.

TSC officials have come out to explain where this delay in paying August salaries stem from as schools reopen for third term.

According to the officials who have confided to us, said that the Commission is working to pay teachers from Wednesday this week.

However the Commission, they said, will not pay striking teachers. This development has brought fresh working on August payroll to exclude striking teachers from getting paid.

Though Knut called off the teachers strike, Kuppet vowed to proceed and a significant number of secondary school teachers have today responded to the industrial action call.

Both and Knut and Kusnet members have reported to school today for third term. The CS Education Julius Migos thanked the teachers for their understanding.

Migos said the government will commit to implement the the second phase of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement, with effect from July, 2024.

“We are most grateful to our teachers and their leaders for their selfless act of patriotism, which prioritises the best interest of learners. We assure our teachers of the Government’s genuine commitment to addressing all their legitimate Concerns, notwithstanding the limiting fiscal space within which we are operating as a country. Following talks between the Teachers Service Commission and the unions, the Government has, for instance, resources for the implementation of the 2nd phase Of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement, with effect from July, 2024,” said Migos in a press statement.

TSC agreed to implement the sh13 billion second phase of teachers’ pay deal.

In the deal teachers will get an increment of up to Sh2, 570 for the least paid (B5), to Sh393 for the highest earners (D5).

This means that the new salaries of the lowest paid teachers will range between a minimum of Sh23, 830 to a maximum of Sh29, 787.

The new salary scales for highest paid teacher will range from a minimum of Sh131,389 and a maximum of Sh162,539.

In addition, teachers will also benefit from four allowances: commuter, house, leave and hardship.

The allowances will range from Sh3,850 to a maximum of Sh50,000. Specifically, commuter allowance will range between Sh4,000 to Sh16,000.

Those who will get housing allowance will be paid Sh3,850 and Sh50,000. While leave allowance has been put between Sh4,000 and Sh10,000.

Teachers who will get hardship allowances will be paid between Sh6,600 and Sh38,100.

Macharia said the salary adjustments will be reflected in teachers’ August payslips, with arrears backdated to July 1, 2024 when implementation was set to begin.

This means that teachers will get more money at the end of this month when the backdated amounts are released.

The boom comes after the teachers received a similar increment last year in the first phase of 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

On Wednesday, TSC said it had received the billions to implement the pay increment fully.

“After today’s discussions, the Commission is pleased to announce that the Government has provided funds for the implementation of the 2d phase of the CBA with effect from July 1, 2024,” Dr Macharia said after meeting unions.

This means that over 370,000 teachers across the country will receive a salary increase as the second phase of the CBA, from August.

Teachers in pay Grade B5, the lowest-ranking teachers, will get a minimum pay rise of Sh1,037. This means that their salaries will increase from Sh22,793 to 23,830.

However, the highest scale earners in this job group will take home Sh29,787.

This is the final implementation of the deal signed in August last year by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) and the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (Kusnet).

On Wednesday, Dr Macharia, said that the necessary funds have been allocated to facilitate the payment.

In their joint statement, the unions said: “The Commission confirmed that it had received the full budgetary allocation for the CBA,” unions statement said.

“Accordingly, teachers would receive their full benefits and arrears for July in their August payslips. The payroll was to be concluded later today for teachers to receive their salaries immediately, the Commission assured us.”

Dr. Macharia urged teachers to return to work on Monday for the start of the Third Term, emphasizing that the government has released the funds required to implement the second phase of the CBA.