Early Childhood Development Education teachers in Kericho County will soon smile their way to the bank following their long-awaited confirmation of their terms to Permanent and pensionable (PNP).
Making the announcement, the County Governor Eric Mutai assured the ECDE teachers that the County government had initiated plans to ensure the teachers were promoted giving them a salary increase.
Dr Mutai further mentioned that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) had clearly stipulated how much money teachers should earn depending on their various levels of education and it is expected that counties implement that for all their teachers.
“I have put in the supplementary budget Sh 125 million required to confirm all teachers on permanent and pensionable terms. We are only waiting for it to be taken to the County Assembly for approval and in the next few months, we will confirm all our ECDE teachers on permanent and pensionable terms,” reiterated Dr Mutai.
The governor also convinced the teachers that his administration will ensure all teachers worked on good terms and conditions to enable them to perform their duties effectively and competently.
“I have directed the Public Serve Board of Kericho to create an employment policy and a clear employment service for our teachers in ECDE to ensure teachers are promoted to different job groups. We will also employ Ward coordinators to manage ECDE,” added Dr Mutai.
The governor was addressing teachers drawn from various Counties who had gathered at Moi Gardens in Kericho town to celebrate World teacher’s day.
“As we celebrate teachers, I want to state that the County government will soon issue scholarships to 3000 youth across the county to pursue skill-based courses at vocational and technical colleges. We have reserved 100 scholarships for each ward,” Dr Mutai said.
According to the National Chairman of the Kenya Union of Pre-Primary Education Teachers (KUNOPPET) Lawrence Otunga, many issues affected the teachers in all the 47 counties and therefore they demanded a uniform scheme of service to be implemented in all the counties.
“As a union, we have tried our best to engage different stakeholders like the Senate, the Council of Governors (CoG), and the National Assembly, and now that Kericho governor is the chairman of the education committee at the CoG, we are sure our issue will be sorted out,” said, Mr.Otunga.
His words were echoed by Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Kericho Branch executive Secretary Anne Cheruiyot who decried that for many years, the ECDE teachers had been belittled and offered jobs with meagre salaries.
“Since teachers have pursued their education at different levels including diploma, degree and even masters and they deserve to be remunerated according to their levels of education,” Ms Cheriyot said.
Area Members of the County Assembly including Kapkugurwet ward MCA Martin Cheruiyot and the newly elected County Assembly Deputy Speaker Eric Bett were present at the World Teachers’ day event.
UNESCO proclaimed 5 October to be World Teachers’ Day in 1994, celebrating milestones made by teachers whose theme this year was ‘The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers’.
By Kibe Mburu and Purity Eboyi
