Thousands of tutors under the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) have new job titles, following the implementation of the fourth and final phase of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
In a move aimed at enhancing efficiency in its teacher management and payroll records, the Commission also abolished other job titles.
The Commission’s Reference Manual describes the origin of the titles in CBA 4, which was missing in the previous three phases of the CBA.
One of the new job titles introduced is Senior Lecturer I, a promotional grade for Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) and teacher training colleges’ tutors.
The manual further states that all teachers in job group M and N in service at tertiary institutions as at 30th June 2017 were automatically converted to Senior Lecturer III and Senior Lecturer II respectively with effect 1st July 2017 and can progress to Senior Lecturer I on promotion.
Before that, the highest designation for the tutors under Senior Lecturer was Senior Lecturer II and the lowest Senior Lecturer IV.
Tutors promoted during the fourth and final phase of the Collective Bargaining Agreement will take home Sh91,041 per month across the board.
That is an improvement from a Senior Lecturer II who earns a minimum of Sh77,840 and a maximum of Sh85,269 per month.
A Senior Lecturer III currently earns between Sh62,272 and Sh64,631 and any promotion will enable them pocket higher salaries.
The Commission has also made changes to its Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs) and distinguished them from school administrators.
The manual says the CSOs were converted as administrators in primary institutions when the CBA took effect July 2017.
Consequently, a CSO with the designation Head Teacher at grade C5 will be designated Curriculum Support Officer II at grade C5 T-Scale 10.
However, the monthly salary remains unchanged where the highest will earn Sh64,631 and the lowest Sh62,272 per month.
CSOs designated as Senior Head Teacher at grade D1 will be known as CSO I at grade D1 T-Scale 11 and their salaries remain the same.
Special needs teachers were also affected in the new changes and the highest rank, Senior Master-SNE at grade C5 T-Scale 10, has been abolished and the highest is at grade C4 T-Scale 9.
Secondary Teacher I at grade C3 is titled SNE Teacher I-Secondary at grade C4 while Secondary Teacher III and II at grade C1 and C2 respectively are designated SNE Teacher II-Secondary at grade C3.
Senior Teacher I at grade C3 has a new title SNE Senior Teacher- Primary at grade C4 and Senior Teacher II grade C2 designated SNE Teacher I at grade C3.
A Primary Teacher II and I at grades B5 and C1 respectively moved to SNE Teacher II-Primary at grade C2.
In the CBA 4, the highest ranked will take home Sh55,604 on the higher side and Sh52,308 on the lower side, compared to the maximum of Sh62,272 and minimum of Sh51,632 they pocketed in CBA3.
The highest paid teacher in the category will pocket Sh53,943 and the lowest will pocket Sh43,154 per month.
The manual states that job designations for SNE Teachers in primary and post primary institutions were developed and applied to teachers deployed on or after 1st July 2018 and they will not qualify for payment of special salary.
Other new titles created include Secondary Teacher II-Technical Certificate at grade C2 T-Scale 7 and Secondary Teacher III-UT Certificate at grade C1 T-Scale 6.
While the manual has provided a path on who qualifies to be converted to the other above titles, it however remains silent on the two.
The highest in this new title will earn Sh33,994 and Sh27,195 on the lower after the implementation of the fourth phase of the CBA.
In the fourth phase of the CBA, the Commission introduced Secondary Teacher II-Technical Certificate at grade C2 T Scale 7 and Secondary Teacher III-UT Certificate at grade C1 T-Scale 6.
The same are however not mentioned in the manual and possibly provide a hint on who qualifies to be promoted to this new grade.
The position of Deputy Principal IV at grade C5, T Scale 10 has been abolished. This means that the designations under Deputy Principal will be I, II, and III.