YVONNE'S TAKE: Insult upon injury of ECDE teachers

Folks, there has been uproar in the country recently. If you missed it, let me quickly update you. You see the Salaries and Remuneration Commission has been conducting a job evaluation grading exercise for Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) teachers. Or what we previously called nursery school teachers.

Now here is why Kenyans are upset, the grading and subsequent salary grades showed that the approved basic salary ranges from a maximum of Ksh.8,700 at entry level to a maximum of Ksh.19,094 for the highest level, that is senior ECDE teacher 1, with 15 years’ experience.

Now of course, you can imagine the outrage. Now they have quickly clarified the figures saying that media reports of an approved salary of Ksh.7000 was not accurate and only based on basic pay and did not factor in things like house allowance and commuter allowance.

Nonetheless, let us look at those figures for a minute. A senior ECDE teacher with a diploma and 15 years of experience is to get a basic pay of Ksh.15,000 to Ksh.19,000? But the picture gets grimmer, you see an entry level ECDE teacher has their basic pay at between Ksh.7,836 and Ksh.8,717.

In Kenya today, that is half the minimum wage. Is the SRC not aware of the minimum wage?

Ok, let me go by the SRC’s clarification, which they were very keen to put out. And I quote, “SRC advised a gross remuneration for the lowest cadre of ECDE teacher in Nairobi at between Ksh.14,961 and Ksh.15, 842 and those outside Nairobi at between Ksh.13,211 and Ksh.14,092.”

This ladies and gentleman is still lower than the minimum wage prescribed by the government! Which is Ksh.15,120. How can this be? How can we be proud to say that this is what we are paying teachers, more so, after a supposed evaluation and grading exercise? How is it that a government agency is recommending basic pay that is way below the minimum wage set by the same government?

Let me put this into some perspective. Members of Parliament get what is known as a sitting allowance of Ksh.5000, Per sitting. This is a sitting of a plenary or a committee. Now, MPS can have up to a maximum of 4 sittings in a week. So, they could easily earn Ksh.20,000 to sit. Literally just sit. In a month. Whilst a teacher, molding young minds and preparing them for their future would earn Ksh.14,000 for working, for a whole month?  Working, not just sitting. If you compare the basic pay, that is Ksh.7000 to teach and Ksh.5000 to sit!

Oh, but let me add SRC’s clarification yet again.  They said they considered affordability and fiscal sustainability of the wage bill for county governments.

What are we doing in this country? What and who do we value? Is this how we value teachers even with the so-called affordability and fiscal sustainability?

All teachers are important in this country, but I would like to emphasise the important role ECD teachers play in laying a foundation for citizens. They teach our children how to read, hold a pen, how to write, in many instances, table manners, how to say please and thank you, how to speak, how to pronounce words correctly.

They also help with potty training, how to peel an orange, peel an egg. They lay the foundation on which primary, high school teachers and even university lecturers will lay the rest of the information. Nursery school teachers teach our children how to be humans and the rest now begin to impart knowledge. And how do we thank them? We pay them less than minimum wage.

Put yourself in the shoes of an ECDE teacher today, who has to deal with our children, patiently so, I might add and then get a less than minimum wage which will be subjected to deductions like NSSF, which is about to increase! Not to mention the increased cost of living. What are they to do with pay like that? In this country? Let us not even begin to speak of the delayed disbursement of funds to the counties which results in salary delays.

Ok fine, if we are to consider the “affordability and fiscal sustainability” of the wage bill, then I hope the SRC says the exact same thing to MPs, who by the way, are seeking another pay increase. What’s good for the goose, should surely be good for the gander.

We have to decide who we are as a country, what we value and what we don’t. Now I know that no amount of money would be enough compensation for the very fundamental work that teachers, more so those in ECDE do, but what has been prescribed, by no less than the SRC, is shocking to say the least. It may be a pointer to why the way our society is today, if this is how we treat the very important ECDE teachers.