A court battle is looming between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and a teachers’ pressure group over a claim of Ksh3.45 billion in unpaid arrears.
The conflict between P1 teachers with ‘A’ level academic qualifications, some of whom have already retired, and the TSC is far from over, as the former now revert to court to seek redress in their quest to have their dues cleared.
In a letter signed by their lawyer, Titus Kirui, dated October 16, 2024, the teachers have given the TSC an ultimatum of 14 days to ensure that the arrears are factored into the current (2024/2025) financial year. Failure to do so will prompt them to move to the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) to officially lodge appropriate recovery proceedings.
This move comes after the teachers, who have long been agitating for equal treatment, observed that their employer, the TSC, deliberately misled the Senate Committee handling their petition. The Commission was aware of their grievances despite the misleading information provided.
In their petition to the Senate through Ms. Ruth Kabui, the teachers urged the Senate to investigate the matter urgently and make appropriate recommendations. This includes requesting the National Treasury and Planning to factor in salary arrears from 1996 to 2010 for P1 ‘A’ Level trained teachers during the previous 2023/2024 financial year, as well as asking the TSC to pay these arrears, which has not materialized.
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The teachers now want the TSC to prove that they were remunerated equally with their counterparts (the untrained S1 teachers) in 1996, who attended a two-week training at Kagumo and Bondo Teachers Training Colleges.
“Their agitation is only for the period from 1996 to 2010. Their complaint is simply this: despite being better trained and more experienced, the untrained ‘A’ Level teachers (S1 grade) joined the service on better terms. It has been your contention that the two groups were equivalently remunerated. We seek proof that our clients were equivalently remunerated with S1 in 1996,” reads the letter in part.
They further argue that despite the TSC tabulating the arrears of the 6,466 P1 ‘A’ Level teachers who were locked out of promotions, nothing has materialized to date.
In the letter, the Commission found that among teachers on payroll who had taught for 18 years and above, there were 2,524, and their cumulative arrears—including salary, housing, and medical allowances—payable between July 1, 1995, and June 30, 2003, amounted to Ksh1.07 billion, with each teacher supposed to receive Ksh424,194.
For those on payroll who had taught for between 15 to 18 years, the Commission identified 3,942 teachers entitled to a cumulative sum of Ksh2.26 billion, with each teacher receiving Ksh573,936 in arrears for the same period.
When the Commission calculated this to assess the effects on its July 2003 payroll, it found that a total of Ksh3.45 billion would be required to clear the arrears.
This total amount included Ksh3.33 billion in arrears payable to the P1 ‘A’ Level teachers for the period from July 1, 1995, to June 30, 2003, along with Ksh67.4 million as increases in salaries payable to the same group of teachers in July 2003, plus an additional Ksh52.9 million monthly increase for other grades.
The TSC further calculated the total funds required for upgrading all eight categories of teachers, which totaled Ksh4.78 billion. This included Ksh3.33 billion in arrears payable to the P1 ‘A’ Level teachers and a yearly wage increase across all grades amounting to Ksh1.45 billion.
“As per your own assessment, the two groups of teachers—those who had taught for 18 years and above, and those who had taught between 15 and 18 years—were entitled to Ksh424,194 and Ksh573,936 each, respectively, as of June 30, 2003. This has been the first point of agitation. This amount remains unpaid and therefore in arrears. The second point of agitation concerns the arrears from July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2010. Equally, this remains unpaid.” the letter states.
The teachers maintain that the Ksh1.4 billion released in the 2010/2011 financial year was intended for the promotion of P1 ‘A’ Level teachers from Approved Teachers Status Four (ATS IV) to ATS I, and did not account for what they should have earned between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2010.
The teachers, who have formed their own Association of Retired and About to Retire (REAR) Teachers Association under the leadership of Kepha Mshambala, are planning to hold a meeting in Nairobi in early November to discuss the progress of the matter and determine the next steps, as the 14-day ultimatum ends on October 30, 2024.
By Roy Hezron
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