TheCable

The Supreme Court in Kenya has ordered the government to abide by a lower court’s decision to give teachers a pay rise of at least 50 percent.

Like Nigerian teachers, leaders of the country’s education sector continually crave a pay rise, calling on government at all levels to call provide better welfare for the teachers.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC), which is the teachers’ pay body, had initially argued that it could not afford the increase awarded by the industrial court, which the supreme court ordered it to.

According to BBC, the government has not yet reacted and it is still not clear where the money will come from.

The pay dispute over teachers’ pay goes back 18 years, with a pay deal struck in 1997 only partially fulfilled.

Teachers in the country’s capital Nairobi are happy about the court’s decision, which means that the lowest-paid teacher should now get $240 (N48,000) a month.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) had earlier expressed hope that supreme court judges would rule in their favour in the said salary dispute.

Teachers had threatened to embark on industrial action if the pay rise is not included in their next salary payment, alongside the necessary medical allowance.

The minimum wage in Nigeria as, at August 2015, is N18,000.