Why teachers are demanding fresh pay talks

Kuppet Secretary General Akelo Misori addresses a media briefing at the Kasarani Sportsview Hotel, Nairobi. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

Teachers are demanding an immediate review of their current salary deal after the government awarded substantially higher pay rises to civil servants, leading to a huge salary difference among the top earners between the teachers and civil servants.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) on Tuesday said the 2025-2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) had already been overtaken by events following the gazettement of the 2026/27 public service salary scales, which significantly boosted the earnings of civil servants while leaving teachers with modest increments.

The gap is most pronounced at the top of the salary scale where the highest-paid civil servants now earn between Sh312,000and Sh576,000 a month, while the highest-paid teachers take home between Sh133,000 and Sh156,000.

This means the highest-earning civil servant takes home Sh443,000 more than the highest-earning teacher every month.

Kuppet Secretary General Akelo Misori said the widening gap had effectively undone gains made in 2008 when teachers successfully fought for harmonisation of salaries across the public service.

"The CBA has been overtaken by events. You cannot have one arm of government awarding substantially higher benefits to one category of public servants while another is left behind. The agreement must now be reviewed to restore equity and fairness," Misori said.

He said the newly gazetted salary reviews had created fresh inequalities between employees under the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and those employed by the Public Service Commission (PSC).

"The salary gaps between Public Service Commission and Teachers Service Commission employees of the same grade now exceed 60 per cent. In the higher job grades, civil servants are earning more than double what teachers earn," he said.

According to the union, teachers begin their careers with a slight salary advantage, but the gap widens sharply as they progress through the ranks.

A newly employed teacher earns Sh26,225, compared to Sh20,600 for the lowest-paid civil servant.

However, while civil servants continue climbing to the lucrative E4 grade, teachers' career progression ends at Grade D5, effectively capping their earnings long before their counterparts in the wider public service.

KUPPET said teachers in Grade C1 earn Sh32,423, below the starting salary of comparable civil servants, while teachers in Grade C5 earn Sh68,948, about 34 per cent below the ceiling for officers in the equivalent public service band.

Misori blamed the widening disparities on what he described as TSC's failure to aggressively negotiate for teachers' welfare within government.

"The Teachers Service Commission is by far the least effective employer in the public sector when it comes to protecting employee welfare. It is the one most ready to accept diktat from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission where teachers' welfare is concerned," he said.

He said teachers received monthly salary increments of between Sh900 and Sh2,000 under the recently signed CBA, while other civil servants benefited from substantially higher adjustments.

Misori argued that the widening salary gap had made it increasingly difficult for teachers to cope with the rising cost of living, particularly in major towns where housing costs continue to climb.

"We have teachers who are teaching next to State House but cannot afford to stay in those neighbourhoods because their house allowance cannot match the market rent," he said.

At the same time, the union faulted the implementation of the teachers' medical scheme under the Social Health Authority (SHA), saying commitments made earlier this year to improve access to healthcare remain largely unfulfilled.

Misori said KUPPET and SHA signed joint communiqués in March and April to address delays in pre-authorisation, system failures and denial of medical services, but teachers continue to experience the same challenges months later.

"Teachers are still being asked to pay out of their pockets for diagnostic tests and treatment that should be covered under the SHA benefit package," he said.

The union said recurring system failures have turned Mondays into "non-service days" in many hospitals because approvals are often unavailable.

It also accused SHA of failing to publish teachers' benefit structures, retaining outpatient limits of between Sh1,200 and Sh2,000 per visit, delaying automation of hospital data systems and failing to operationalise county joint committees established to resolve complaints.

Kuppet further criticised the accreditation of only two IVF facilities under the scheme, saying some teachers seeking fertility treatment are being asked to raise up to Sh250,000 for diagnostic tests.

Despite the criticism, Misori defended the decision to transition teachers from the previous medical insurer to SHA, arguing that public servants should ordinarily receive healthcare through public institutions.

"It was not a mistake to move to SHA. We are public servants and there was nothing wrong with seeking services from a public institution. The problem is that the commitments made to improve the scheme have not been implemented," he said.

He maintained that any decision to move teachers to another medical scheme rests with the Teachers Service Commission as their employer.

The union also demanded the immediate payment of teachers who supervised and marked the 2025 national examinations, saying delays by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) had continued to inconvenience members.

KUPPET warned that unless the government narrows the salary gap, reopens the teachers' CBA and addresses persistent shortcomings in the medical scheme, discontent within the profession will continue to grow, raising the prospect of fresh industrial unrest in the education sector.