The Teachers Service Commission has disclosed that over 4,000 teachers are not fully registered with the National Social Security Fund, thus they do not qualify for retirement benefits. Such teachers are urged by the TSC to immediately visit their nearest NSSF office for registration and ensure that they submit their new NSSF numbers to their county directors.
Registration with NSSF guarantees that teachers’ retirement benefits are remitted to the state managed body, and contributions of unregistered teachers are not posted to individual’s account número, but rather their contributions remains suspended in the NSSF account and is never available for use when needed. Such teachers have been advised to “urgently” regularize their records to be included in the payroll.
For those teachers who recently registered with NSSF and their records are yet to be updated are required to present their NSSF cards alongside recent statements from NSSF to TSC for appropriate documentation. Several memos from county directors have set the deadline for compliance on 21st June, 2024.
The memos, which Education News Kenya has seen, outline procedures to be followed by the teachers. “All teachers are therefore required to visit the nearest NSSF office for registration purposes. Upon registration, ensure you submit your NSSF number to your respective TSC Sub County Director for onward transmission to TSC Headquarters,” one of the memos outlines.
A provident fund is a government-managed retirement savings plan where retirees receive a lump sum payment upon retirement. Contributions are made by workers and managed by the government until withdrawal. Unlike pension accounts managed by employers, provident funds provide a one-time payout rather than monthly payments.
Teachers can withdraw from their provident fund under specific conditions, such as resignation, retirement, termination, relocation to another country, or medical incapacity.