Empowering Teachers: Acting Head Compensation to Start with July 2024 Budget

Empowering Teachers: Acting Head Compensation to Start with July 2024 Budget

Empowering Teachers: Acting Head Compensation to Start with July 2024 Budget. In a positive development for acting primary and secondary school heads, compensation for their additional responsibilities is on the horizon. As per Section 5 of the Employment Act 2007, equal remuneration for equal work is mandated. And acting headteachers and principals will soon receive a monthly special duty allowance during their tenure.

Commencing post the July 2024 budget. This initiative follows successful negotiations between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC). The TSC aims to establish a budget line for this special duty allowance. Benefiting a substantial number of schools currently lacking substantive leadership.

With a significant number of headteachers and principals retiring, especially by the end of December 2023. The new plan addresses the leadership vacuum in over 3,000 schools. Acting school heads. Besides the special allowance, will gain an advantage in the ongoing teacher promotion exercise, receiving higher marks in the pursuit of substantive positions.

TSC CEO Nancy Macharia highlighted the challenge of insufficient qualified teachers for leadership roles, leading to the deployment of acting administrators. The government’s establishment of new schools exacerbates this issue, as budget constraints hinder the promotion of teachers to head these institutions.

Despite TSC’s efforts to fill over 36,000 promotion vacancies, the uptake among teachers remains low, attributed to career progression guidelines adopted in 2017. Teachers’ unions, including Kuppet and Knut, criticize the rigid promotion criteria, causing demoralization and stagnation.

The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms recommends the Education Ministry harmonize teacher management policies. Urging a reevaluation of career progression guidelines. In defense, Macharia asserts the TSC’s promotion criteria as rigorous and competitive, emphasizing the thorough process for appointing head teachers and deputies.

Empowering Teachers: Acting Head Compensation to Start with July 2024 Budget.