Since 2017, teachers’ pay has risen by 52.8% on average. Photo credit: Freepik.
Prague, April 22 (CTK) – Teachers will have a guaranteed salary of around 130% of the average gross pay in the Czech Republic as of next year, under a bill passed by the Chamber of Deputies today. However, this will only apply to teachers themselves, rather than all teaching staff as the government originally proposed.
Limiting the application of the wage guarantee in this way, following a proposal from a group of coalition MPs, was controversial; opposition lawmakers and school unions said it would demotivate teaching assistants and special educators.
The draft amendment to the school law will not need to be voted on in the Senate.
According to the Education Ministry, teachers, including managers, received an average gross monthly salary of CZK 48,204 in 2022, up by 0.8% year-on-year.
Since the government of Andrej Babis (ANO) took power in 2017, teachers’ pay has risen by 52.8% on average, not including university teachers.
ANO’s parliamentary group chair Alena Schillerova criticised the government for removing teaching assistants from the amendment, but said her group would not vote against it so they could not be accused of opposing guaranteed salaries for teachers.
Schools trade union leader Frantisek Dobsik said the bill drew a dividing line between teachers and other “second-rate” teaching staff. “They rightly feel harmed,” he said.
The amendment also introduces the position of accompanying teacher to improve the quality of teaching practice and a mentor system to support newly-qualified teachers for two years. Under the changes, university graduates will be allowed to teach for a limited period of three years in higher grades of primary schools and at secondary schools, even without a teaching qualification.
The government’s original proposal planned to set the amount of money for teaching staff salaries at least 1.404 times the average gross monthly wage in the Czech Republic for the year before the previous year.
