The Teachers’ Service Commission will face massive challenges following the recent budget revisions mooted by the National Treasury. Of importance, these cuts are going to hurt so badly the Commission’s programs and development projects. Notably among them will be the implementation of the agreed-upon Collective Bargaining Agreement and the employment of JSS teachers.
Adverse Effects on CBA Implementation and Teacher Employment
The TSC CEO highlighted that reduction of the budget by Ksh10 billion in employee compensation, will delay the second phase of the 2021-2025 CBA agreement between the commission and teacher unions—this means it will have teachers waiting for a longer period to get their benefits as agreed.
“The Ksh10,281,147,858 reduction for the recurrent budget is therefore bound to have an impact on the remuneration of teaching service employees. This therefore means the commission cannot undertake the implementation of the second phase of the 2021-2025 Amended CBA between Commission and the Teacher Unions,” stated Macharia.
Budget Reductions and Their Implications
The National Treasury cut the TSC’s budget allocations for the Financial Year 2024/25 by Ksh18.9 billion following the withdrawal of the 2024 Finance Bill. The slash is set to affect the employment of JSS teachers countrywide. The net recurrent budget cuts Ksh10.28b, revising the new gross recurrent budget to Ksh347.49 billion from Ksh357.77 billion that was initially set aside.
Impact on Development Projects
It also cuts the development budget by Ksh38 million from Ksh442.3 million to Ksh404.3 million. The cut is expected to delay the completion of the Commission’s county offices in Machakos and Kilifi, some very critical projects to be handed over by September 2024.
“This cut will affect the completion of the commission’s county offices, specifically that of Machakos and Kilifi counties. These two development projects are at an advanced stage of completion, and were to be handed over to the commission in September 2024. The budget cuts will definitely delay the payment to the contractors upon raising the completion certificate,” said the CEO.
Potential Review of Training Programs
Due to the reduced allocations in the budget, TSC hinted at reviewing the number of teachers that were to be trained under the CBC programme. The review may further pull other expenditure items down, like membership subscriptions to professional bodies and routine expenditure settlement relating to operating assets, including maintenance of said assets and the buying of motor vehicles.