Over the years, teachers have been spending a lot of time on the roads protesting for better payment from the government.
The current TSC upgrading of teachers led to the scrapping off of some job groups and merging of others. Under the new system of grading tutors, the grade that was previously known as P1, which was under Job Group G, was scrapped off and replaced with Grade B5.
This grade was designated as the new entry grade for all tutors at the primary school level.
The Teachers Service Commission, TSC, pays a newly employed graduate teacher in Kenya a minimum of 34,955 shillings in basic salary per month. Such a teacher falls under grade C2 (formerly Job group K) and their job title is Secondary Teacher II.
Apart from the basic salary, you are also paid allowances. You will receive Sh5,000 in commuter allowance per month for C2 teachers. Leave allowance is only paid once a year at a rate of Sh6,000 per year. House allowance is paid monthly at a rate of 16,500 shillings to 7,000 shillings.
As stipulated in the TSC appointment letter, the newly employed teacher remains on probation for a period of not less than six months. In some cases, the probation period may be extended if the teacher’s performance is unsatisfactory.
After three years of service, you will automatically be promoted to job group L; currently known as grade C3. This is after you fill the TSC promotion form.
TSC are also planning to employ 4,000 more intern teachers to meet the targeted 6,000 interns in January. Back in July, the commission had announced its attention to recruiting 6,000 teachers on internship contracts.
The government initiative to cushion youths saw 2,000 teachers being recruited. TSC will now seek to counter the deficiency by announcing more vacancies.
This comes a time when hundreds of thousands of jobless teachers are now scrambling for limited internship openings as TSC had made it the only sure route to clinching permanent jobs.
The unemployed teachers are locked in stiff competition for the 1038 internship vacancies available in primary schools and 957 for secondary schools when interviews are called in the latest recruitment drive.