Education Principal Secretary, PS, Belio Kipsang has urged the Senate Committees to ensure Early Child Development and Education, ECDE, are well remunerated.
Speaking during a meeting with the Committee on Education on Monday, February 13, Kipsang asked the senators to defend the instructors from a planned downward revision of their pay.
He said that teachers play a critical role in the Pre-Primary and also need to be well facilitated. Education PS Belio Kipsang’ urged that ECDE teachers have a major responsibility of preparing and shaping learners for their future education.
“We are asking you to negotiate on behalf of the ECDE teachers of this country with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) so that they can be paid what they deserve,” the PS stated.
He said that the work done by ECDE teachers cannot be compared to other levels of education because they are the first to interact with and induct every child into the school life journey.
Kipsang’ reckoned that it was paramount for the country to invest in quality education at the entry-level by ensuring that the interests of instructors were catered for. Citing findings of a study conducted on basic education, he stated that providing quality ECDE slashes the cost of primary learning by 15 percent.
The PS cautioned county and national governments against the back and forth on who should be responsible for the welfare of the educators. He pushed for both levels of government to harmonize one scheme of service for ECDE teachers across all 47 counties.
“If this is done, we shall not have disparities in the salary scale for the ECDE teachers. Where others are on permanent terms of service while the rest on contract basis,” Kipsang’ argued.
According to reports, SRC had planned to slash the minimum pay for ECDE teachers in some counties from Ksh20,000 to Ksh7,836. On February 7, the Commission denounced the reports, explaining that the revision would be an illegality since it was below the minimum wage of Ksh12,000.
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