Teachers' wages increased by 3% instead of promised 25%?
Moreover, teachers' wages in August were Br 70 thousand less in comparison with the January-May ones.
"The increase of the base rates by 25% for some categories of pedagogical workers let us raise the average salary by 3%", - Minister of Education Syarhei Maskevich said at the press-conference.
He added that a working hour of a teacher didn't get cheaper - it got longer. However, where is the promised 25% bonus to the wages?
"The base rate increased by 25%, and the weekly working base rate also increased from 18 to 20 hours. One thing overlapped the other and resulted in the just 3% increase," say the officials of the Administration for Education, Sports and Tourism of the Frunze district.
They also named the average salary of a teacher with five years of working experience - Br 3,2 million.
It turns out that a teacher works more and gets nearly the same money - 20 hours a week instead of the former 18.
"In summer, we have counted that the wages will grow by 11% with longer working hours. However, we see it now that there won't be any significant increase," officials of a Minsk school administration tell Euroradio. They also listened to the speech of the Minister of Education and disappointed.
Anyway, the teachers haven't received their wages for September yet so they cannot tell exactly how richer they became.
"I only got the advance money, which is Br 1,5 million. I don't know how much they will pay me in the end of the month - I still don't understand what my salary is," teacher from Kastsyukovichy Svyatlana Viktarauna tells Euroradio.
The wages will grow, assures the Ministry of Education. 3% is an overall number in the whole country, without the data for September.
"If a teacher works 20 hours a week instead of 18, the salary grew by more. The hourly rate did not decrease, it grew. Therefore, the salary of such a teacher will grow by approximately 10-12%. We should look the September statistics," the Ministry's officials tell Euroradio.
Let's check on the real salary growth. The average wage of a teacher since January till May was Br 3 million 869 thousand, informs BelStat. In August, the teachers received Br 70 thousand less. The schools administrations think this is connected with the vacation season.
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