Female teachers will henceforth enjoy maternity leave of 120 days up from the three months they are currently accorded.

A new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and teachers countrywide, will also see male teachers enjoying more paternity leave days of 21. Men are currently given 14 paternity leave days.

The agreement that covers the 2021 to 2025 period and takes effect from July 1, 2021, however, leaves teachers without any monetary gain and introduces tougher measures to guide promotions.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Collins Oyuu said the new CBA has not factored in the traditional annual salary and allowance increments because of the advisory issued by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

Salary increase

“We agreed to sign the CBA after agreeing with TSC that a review on the basic pay would be undertaken after the commission is given a go-ahead by SRC.

We still assure our members that their salaries would be reviewed when the economy improves,” Oyuu told People Daily.

The salaries commission imposed a two-year ban on salary increase for employees in the public service as a result of negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.

Oyuu disclosed that when the economy improves, Knut would still push for its earlier proposal for a salary increment of between 120 and 200 per cent.

But under the new CBA, teachers would be a happy lot after TSC gave in to pressure to consider transfer requests for married couples to appropriate stations and locations subject to factors such as availability of vacancies and the need for suitable replacement.

Such requests would also be pegged on existing staffing norms and proof of marriage, among other factors.

This, TSC says, is aimed at achieving family values as enshrined in the Constitution.

However, TSC has stuck to its guns that promotion of teachers shall be pegged on Career Progression Guidelines.

“Promotion of teachers shall be in accordance with the Career Progression Guidelines in force.

However, teachers serving in Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) and hard to staff areas and are holding administrative positions in an acting capacity shall be promoted progressively until they obtain grades commensurate to their respective positions,” the circular dated September 10, 2021, states.

TSC has also promised to implement Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programmes and performance management system in the teaching service.

To this end, every teacher who successfully completes the TPD programme shall be issued with a Teaching Certificate,” TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia says.

The new CBA was agreed upon on July 13, 2021 and registered by the Employment and Labour Relations Court on August 27, 2021.

Job groups

Details of the new CBA indicate that primary school heads and secondary principals will remain in the same job groups and perks that they were awarded in 2016.

In 2016, all primary school heads of boarding and day schools were automatically moved up to Grade D1, earning between Sh77,840 and Sh93,408.

Primary head teachers with lower student population were elevated to C5, earning between Sh62,272 and Sh77,840.

Primary school deputy head teachers were also moved up to grade C5 and Grade C4, earning between Sh52,308 and 65,385.

The pay was also based on the school categories. Principals of extra-county schools moved to grade D5 as their deputies moved to D3.