41,000 Teachers to be promoted in reward for them going beyond their call of duty.
During the Kenya Music Festival Winner’s State, on Wednesday 23rd August the President ordered that 5000 teachers be promoted directly while 36000 teachers indirectly as a reward for the excellent work that they are doing.
The President instructed the CS of Education Ezekiel Machogu to promote teachers who trained students who participated in the Kenya Music Festival Winners State also ordered that 1 Billion go into that.
“Teachers who have done this phenomenal job by training these young people, writing the scripts, and doing exemplary works, should join those to be promoted in this cycle. I believe that they deserve that promotion because they have excelled and they have gone beyond their call of duty,” the President said.
In his statement, the President urged TSC and other stakeholders to come up with a solution faster. This is due to the disagreements between the Salaries and Remuneration Commission(SRC) came to a disagreement with TSC regarding salary increments.
SRC had announced that all civil servants would receive a salary increment of 7-10%, of which KUPPET Secretary General Akello Misori, rejected the offer and based his arguments on that they had already started talks on the salaries.
He stated that the teachers demanded a basic salary increment of 70%, Promotions, Medical benefits, and a Pension Scheme which weren’t put on the table for discussions, and that teachers’ salaries were to be increased before any other state officer.
Collins Oyuu, the secretary general of Knut, discredited the increase by SRC labeling it a drop in the ocean. and according to him, taxes are a mechanism for the government to provide with one hand while taking with the other.
KNUT boss Collins Oyuu said: “Much as we thank the President, we want to tell the TSC that what we expected in the review is not what they brought us, and we ask them a question, suppose the President did not say the 7 to 10 percent, what were you going to bring us? So what we have deliberated on is nothing short of the presidential pronouncement.”
SRC proposals suggest that the C2 category teacher will be paid a maximum of Sh46,752 from Sh34,955, and those with a maximum monthly payment will move from Sh.131,380 to Sh.168,691.
In his statement Misori claims that the increase in cost of living and inflation which has decreased teachers’ disposable income is the driving force for KUPPET to demand a 30-70% increase hence salary increase should be from Sh.34,955 to Sh.74,279 and not what SRC proposed.
The unions said they have asked the TSC to come back to them with better proposals on the pay hikes.
The offer is on, but the teachers have not confirmed accepting the increament which falls far behind their percentage bracket. It is interesting to know what lies ahead. will the offer be accepted or not, Time will tell.