The Kenya Union of Pre-Primary Education Teachers (KUNOPPET) has protested over the controversial proposal from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) ordering county governors to pay Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) teachers a minimum salary of Sh7, 836.
SRC recommended that the lowest ECDE teachers (ECDE Teacher III (Certificate) are to be paid a minimum salary of Sh7,836 and a maximum of Sh8,717, while the highest ECDE teacher (Senior ECDE Teacher I (Diploma) should receive a minimum salary of Sh15,224 and a maximum of Sh19,090 as seen in a local newspaper.
KUNOPPET chairman Lawrence Otunga Sunday said ECDE teachers will not be despised by being paid peanut promising to fight until a reasonable resolution is reached.
“We are not happy with SRC’s decision to humiliate us. Is seven thousand enough salary for a teacher? How will a teacher pay house rent and pay school fees for their children? A teacher also has their personal needs and families to take care of,” he said.
“We reject the recommendations from SRC to governors and we say that nursery teachers will not be despised and we are here to fight for the rights of every ECDE teacher.”
The leader said the governors should not implement the proposal citing the economic hardship.
“There are some governors who have already sent letters saying that they have started to implement the SRC orders. We shall not allow any county to pay its ECDE teachers Sh7,000,” he said.
“There are teachers who earn up to Sh60,00 some Sh70,000 now you want to deduct that to Sh7,000. How will is that possible?”
This means more than 10,000 ECDE teachers will get hefty salary cuts following the advisory SRC.
The commission has recommended to the Council of Governors (CoG) a new grading and salary structure targeting teachers employed by county governments.
In a circular by the SRC dated January 13, 2023, the SRC is directing all county governments to implement the new grading and salary structures which proposes a pay cut of between Sh7,383 and Sh10,803.
According to the proposed structure, an ECD teacher at the certificate level will earn between Sh7,836 and Sh11,467 for job groups between F and L.
This will be a massive drop from their current salary of between Sh16,890 and Sh20,800 for the same job groups.
If executed the most affected will be job group H, consisting of assistant ECDE Teacher I, who will lose Sh9,866, with the new salary being Sh8,804, down from the current Sh18,270.
The same salary cut will also affect teachers at the diploma level where their salaries will now be between Sh11,467 and Sh19,094 down from the current Sh22,270 and Sh27,700 for job groups between H and N.
Job group J (ECDE Teacher II) will be the most affected, suffering more than 52 percent salary slash from the current Sh23,310 to Sh12,980.
