Deputy Minister of Finance Roman Yermolychev: The salary of teachers should be a significant part of the calculation of wages 

Today remuneration of teachers consists of official wages and a large number of surcharges and allowances. This system should be reconsidered thinks Deputy Minister of Finance Roman Yermolychev.

“It becomes a subject of manipulation when, for example, some local governments pay a minimum allowance for the prestige of work to teachers, ie - 5%, and others - 20-30%. There should be a clear formula for calculating salaries, a significant part of which should be the wage itself. This will address the issue of fair pay for teachers, regardless of the communities in which they work. Currently, this is one of the important tasks of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance”, - said Roman Yermolychev in an interview with Ukrinform news agency.

According to the Deputy Minister, the problem is the lack of resources in the state and local budgets to increase the salaries of teachers. Therefore, it is necessary to make management decisions that require in-depth analysis of the network of educational institutions and the objectives of expenditure. For schools, this is the responsibility of local governments. 

In addition, the Deputy Minister believes that qualitative changes should take place in the education system, in particular - related to staff renewal. After all, the state annually spends significant funds on teacher training in higher education institutions, but young teachers are rarely employed in schools and their employment often doesn't last long.

“The reasons are relatively low wages and lack of full-time workload. Therefore, the creation of a competitive salary is one of the important tasks”, - said Roman Yermolychev.