Gov’t moves to end confusion over hardship areas

Education Cabinet Secretary Migos Ogamba now says the government is undertaking a harmonisation exercise of all hardship areas across the country for gazettement in a central registry.

Speaking during Citizen TV’s ‘Elimu Mashinani’ segment held in Kilifi on Tuesday, Ogamba said the move is meant to address inconsistencies in the payment of hardship allowances between teachers and other public servants.

The CS pointed out that the existing conflict was because there was no thin line clearly defining a hardship area between government bodies, since the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the public service often differ on identifying a hardship area, therefore the need to have a central registry.

“The government is currently undertaking a harmonisation exercise of all the hardship areas across the country for gazetting in a registry. There was an issue of gazetting all hardship areas and we said let us do it for the proper payment of hardship allowances to be paid across the board which is supposed to be harmonized across the board for both teachers and other public servants because it so happens that sometimes you will find the same area under the TSC is not gazetted as hardship area but is gazetted under the public service, that brings the conflict,” he said.

CS Ogamba’s remarks were echoed by Principal Secretary for Basic Education Dr. Julius Bitok, who admitted that the county faces unique challenges that have a direct impact on education outcomes.

“I agree that there is something wrong in terms of the number of learners going to university in Kilifi. Some of the reasons why there is still poor performance in Kilifi are that it is largely a hardship area and the schools are very far from each other and there is a lot of struggle with the learners getting to schools,” Bitok noted.

“There are issues relating to poverty, issues relating to cultural beliefs and early marriages and we have some homework to do in Kilifi.”

The debate followed concerns over poor performance in Kilifi County in the 2024 KCSE results. The county produced only two A plains, with just 10 per cent of candidates scoring C+ and above, while half of the students scored D+ and below, a performance which education stakeholders attributed to the region being a hardship area.

The ministry thus hinted at harmonisation of hardship zones to ensure fair allocation of allowances and better support for teachers and learners in marginalised regions.

In May this year, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) opposed a government proposal to review 44 hardship zones, a move they say would reduce teachers’ allowances.

The union further threatened legal action if the plan goes ahead, terming hardship pay a hard-won gain secured through collective bargaining agreements.