•Initially, TSC had agreed to allow teachers to go on maternity leave for 120 days as was demanded by their unions but without monetary benefits for the additional 30 days.
•Teachers had been enjoying 90 days of maternity leave with pay.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
Female teachers will now be eligible for 120 days paid maternity leave while male teachers will get 21 days paid paternity leave.
The Teachers Service Commission has effected the new changes which have seen an increase in leave days.
In a circular dated February 10, the TSC said they will enjoy all benefits for the 120 leave days they are entitled to.
Male teachers will get 21 paternity leave days with benefits, within the duration of the spouses’ maternity leave.
Initially, TSC had agreed to allow teachers to go on maternity leave for 120 days as demanded by their unions but without monetary benefits for the additional 30 days.
Teachers had been enjoying 90 days of maternity leave with pay.
TSC now says teachers proceeding on the revised 120 maternity leave days will get their full salaries and allowances.
The circular was sent to all TSC teachers who are entitled to both maternity and paternity leave days.
The 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement gives the more than 320,000 teachers in Kenyan public schools an extended maternity and paternity leave from 90 to 120 days and 14 to 21 days.
While the CBA took effect on July 1, last year, the commission froze the financial component to pave way for economic recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The TSC move sparked uproar with teachers pushing for full implementation of the CBA.
The commission said female teachers will not forfeit their annual leave days just because they are proceeding on the 120-day maternity leave.
“This is with effect from the date of delivery and the teacher shall not forfeit annual leave on account of having taken maternity leave,” Macharia said.
On pre-adoptive parents, they will be eligible for 45 days with their salary fully paid.
Pre-adoptive parents have children with the understanding that they have plans to adopt them.
However, teachers are eligible for only one leave at a time.
This means one cannot combine annual with maternity or paternity and adoptive leave days.
This is a major win for teachers who quality of life of newborn children without straining family finances and squeezing available resources for child care and medication.
Under the new TSC leave management programme, teachers have been moved from the traditional manual application of leave to a digital platform.
Macharia said this is part of the 2019-2023 strategic plans that seek to implement reforms that improve service delivery to teachers.
Kenya National Union of Teachers secretary general Collins Oyuu said the move was a good thing for teachers.
“I will always support anything that is good for my teachers and gives them comfort,” Oyuu told the Star in an interview.
“What matters is the days have been added, we would only have problems if the leave days were reduced.”
Nominated MP Wilson Sossion said the move was right for teachers.
The former Knut secretary general asked all school heads to comply with the leave policy.
“That is fine but it should have even been made longer to six months, couples can stay away for even six months raising their child,” Sossion told the Star.
The non-monetary 2021-25 CBA last year provided for the inclusion of hardship allowance, transfer allowance.
TSC committed to considering transfer requests for married couples to appropriate locations; subject to available vacancies.
However, these allowances are subject to old rates.
The CBA was signed between TSC and Knut, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers and Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers.
Last year, TSC declined the push for a salary raise, saying the Salaries and Remuneration Commission had suspended the review of salaries for all civil servants, teachers included.
SRC in May said it would not review basic salary structures, allowances, and benefits for public servants, in the financial year 2021/2022 and 2022-23 following recommendations from the National Treasury.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris