JUST IN
REPRIEVE AS FUNDS FOR BOM TEACHERS, STAFF GET RELEASED; MAGOHA CONFIRMS
CS Magoha’s latest response to queries by Members of Parliament indicates that the payment of salaries for BOM teachers and staff is the sole responsibility of individual schools since teachers are employed by the Teachers Service Commission and not the ministry of education.
However, the CS said the Ministry had already disbursed free education funds to schools to enable them to continue paying salaries of their support staff.
Reports hitting our newsroom this afternoon show that free education funds have already been released to various schools.
This is good news especially to staff employed by school management boards.
The CS has however distanced himself from shouldering the responsibility of ensuring that BOM teachers continue to get paid throughout this Covid-19 period saying that it is upon the Teachers Service Commission to recruit and manage teachers, and not the ministry.
The CS was responding to a question posed by Emuhaya Member of Parliament Omboko Milemba who is also the chair of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education, KUPPET. Honorable Milemba wanted to seek clarification on what measures the education ministry has put in place to ensure that BOM teachers and workers get continuously paid during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
“The funds that the ministry disburses to schools do not include the provision for teachers on boards of management, BOM. The engagement of BOM teachers is independently done by respective Boards of Management without the involvement of the education ministry,” said Magoha.
READ ALSO
40 Teachers deregistered by TSC, find out why
He further added that it is the sole responsibility of the BOMs of individual schools to ensure that the salaries of BOM teachers and other workers are paid.
SCHOOL FUNDS RELEASED
The CS further noted that all requisite school funds have already been released to schools. It is therefore expected that the support staff will continue receiving their wages.
“All the requisite funds have already been released to schools. Therefore, it is expected that the support staff will continue receiving their wages,” noted Magoha.
Last Thursday the CS confirmed that BOM teachers will receive their salaries since the government has set aside funds to cushion them against the harsh economic realities geared by the pandemic.
“The Government has set aside sufficient funds to pay BOM teachers, non-teaching staff including security personnel to ensure safety in schools,” said Magoha at a Press conference with stakeholders.
From where Professor Magoha stands, it will now be upon schools to ensure the teachers and support staff receive their salaries.
Even as Magoha’s announcement gives a glimmer of hope in these dark times, private school teachers are yet to hear anything worth smiling. Previous appeals by the Kenya Private Schools Association to the government for stipends to cushion teachers in private schools have fallen on deaf ears.
