Teachers Miss 9.5 Salary Increase Following Ksh.10 Billion Budget Cut
The teachers collective bargaining agreement (CBA) has hit a snag after the government slashed the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) budget.
TSC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Nancy Macharia informed the Education Committee in the National Assembly that their budget had been cut by Ksh.10 billion, affecting implementation of phase two of CBA.
In accordance with an agreement between TSC and teachers’ unions, teachers were expecting to have an increase in their basic salary by up to 9.5 percent effective July 1, 2023.
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Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and Kenya Union for Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) signed this agreement. Nevertheless, considering these financial constraints at hand now, TSC may not honor this promise.
Challenges Facing Recruitment and Employment
Macharia revealed to the committee that Junior Secondary School intern teachers would only be absorbed from January instead of this month as earlier planned. Additionally, recruitment which was supposed to start this month will be delayed because Kenya Kwanza Government’s promise to employ 20,000 new teachers has not been acted upon so far.
Overview of the Budget Reductions
The Supplementary Estimates 1 for FY 2024/25 propose an overall reduction of Kshs.156.4 billion in various ministries, departments and agencies including the three arms of government, constitutional commissions and independent offices. This is largely due to a decline in development spending by Kshs.122.4 billion targeting projects funded internally through exchequer issues.
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In spite of cuts on domestic project financing, budget keeps projects financed through development partner loans and grants worth more than Kshs.240 billion. It is one way of ensuring that externally funded projects are not interrupted.
The ministries’ recurrent expenditure has been decreased by Kshs.34 billion. Despite this, some key recurrent items involving over Kshs100bn have remained untouched including; allocation for free day secondary education, free primary education and junior secondary schools thus guaranteeing funding for these crucial educational services.
Teachers Miss 9.5 Salary Increase Following Ksh.10 Billion Budget Cut
