Teachers demand higher allowances ahead of KCSE exams

Secondary school teachers have made fresh demands for increased allowances to officiate the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations, which are scheduled to begin on October 22, 2024. 

Through the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), the teachers have asked for their out-of-workstation allowances to be raised by between 750 and 900 per cent. 

In a letter to Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, Kuppet Secretary-General Akello Misori proposes a new rate of Sh3,000 per day for invigilators, up from Sh400 per day (a 750 per cent rise). 

The union wants supervisors to be paid 3,500 per day from the Sh450 they are paid currently (a 778 per cent rise) and Sh4,500 for principals, who also act as examination centre managers during the examination period. 

Currently, the principals are paid Sh500 per day and therefore this would translate to a 900 per cent increase. 

“Our members have vowed to reject the current remuneration structure during the upcoming examinations. As the Cabinet secretary in charge of the Kenya National Examination’s Council (Knec) budget, we urge you to facilitate the council in compensating teachers as provided under the Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual for the Public Service, which is the applicable benchmark across the government,” says Mr Misori in the letter. 

“The low level of remuneration for examination management runs through the entire cycle from invigilation to supervision to marking. This level of remuneration for exam managers and examiners is grossly unsatisfactory, falls short of Kenya’s standards for fair labour practice, and contributes greatly to the low morale in the teaching service. It also negatively impacts the credibility of national examinations,” he added.

The demand for better remuneration of teachers deployed during the examination period was one of the grievances of Kuppet when it called for a strike in August before agreeing a consent with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) that ended the strike. 

“Teachers are the only cadre currently lacking policy guidelines on compensation for out-of-station work. The result of this anomaly is that teachers perform such duties under terms and conditions of service that border on servitude. Indeed, unskilled casual workers engaged by the government to plant trees during national holidays and youths engaged under Kazi Mtaani are more highly remunerated than professional teachers managing national examinations,” explained Mr Misori. 

The Knec has in recent years struggled with budgetary constraints to pay examination officials since the government stopped it from charging fees for school examinations. 

However, its allocation by the National Treasury has been inadequate since it is a block allocation as opposed to a capitation per candidate, despite the numbers increasing every year. 

The inadequate allocation has led to delays in paying teachers who participate in the examinations exercise. The TSC acts as an agent of Knec during the period. 

In the current budget, the council was allocated Sh5 billion. 

Last year, Knec distributed examination materials from 576 centres countrywide. KCSE candidates will do their rehearsals on October 18, while the examinations will start on October 22 and run up to November 22.

Grade 6 learners will do rehearsals for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) on October 25 2024 and write the examinations from October 28 to 31, 2024.

It will run concurrently with the Kenya Intermediate Learner, Education Assessment (KILEA) which is administered to learners with special needs.  

There will be no examination for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) as the last 8-4-4 class completed primary school last year. 

For this year’s KCSE examinations, both the supervisors and invigilators will be secondary school teachers. Previously, the supervisors would be from secondary schools while invigilators were primary school teachers.