Embu official proposals teachers should earn more than county ministers



A senior Embu County Government official has proposed that teachers should earn more money than county ministers due to their huge workload.
Embu education executive member John Kiamati said teachers pocket meagre salaries despite contributing heavily to nation building, and many were suffering as a result. .
“I have been a teacher and I am now a CEC member. I can assure the Commission that the work of CEC members is even a bit lesser than that of a teacher. Therefore in job evaluation, we expect a teacher to earn more than a CEC member,” he said.
Kiamati recounted to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) chair Lydia Nzomo and hundreds of teachers how he was first employed on a salary of Sh3,000 minus any allowance in 1,992 and rose through the ranks to become a principal.
He said whereas teachers today earn much more than that plus various allowances, the ever rising cost of living reduces the purchasing power of what they get hence many are suffering.
“I know that teachers are doing a lot for this nation and have contributed to economic development. I believe if every teacher was empowered within two years time we will develop as a nation,” he said.
Kiamati appealed to TSC to bargain with the Treasury for a better pay and ensure teachers freed from the shackles of poverty.
He saidMPs Wilson Sossion and Omboko Milemba who are also teacher’s unions officials should use their legislative offices to fight for the welfare of teachers.
He spoke during the TSC open day for Eastern region at Embu Kawa Academy where various education stakeholders accused the Commission of lacking goodwill in adequately staffing schools and paying teachers competitively.
Nzomo said the commission was committed to paying teachers well and recruiting more tutors but was limited to the funding received from the national Treasury, which incidentally accounted for 10th of the national budget at Sh201 billion.
“We are, however, applying innovative ways to ensure the Kenyan child doesn’t suffer from lack of teachers. We have discussed this with (National Assembly) committee on education and are discussing it with the Treasury. We will try our best to eliminate this problem,” she said.
She promised that the commission will liaise with relevant arms of government to review and determine hardship and housing allowances to different areas to address grievances by some teachers that their schools were unfairly left out.

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