Teachers' wages are increased with Hungarian taxpayers' money.
The Ministry of the Interior arranged for 140,000 teachers to receive the documents required for a salary increase in less than two weeks (until January 30). Teachers of state-run schools will receive their increased salaries on Monday at the latest. Gergely Gulyás spoke about this at Thursday's government briefing.
According to the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office, the government's intention is clear, there will be a 32.2 percent wage increase, the government has increased the wage bill by that much, which can only be spent on wage increases. Everyone's salary will increase, he added.
He explained that teachers with a master's degree will receive a two percent increase, while those who teach subjects in deficit can count on an additional four percent increase.
With the current salary increase, the average salary of teachers reaches 71.8 percent of the average salary of graduates, which means HUF 652,000 gross.
Gulyás reminded us that only in this legislative cycle, teacher wages increased by 46 percent, and they are confident that they will be able to keep their commitment to raise teachers' wages to 80 percent of the graduate minimum wage. He also talked about the changes brought about by the law on the legal status of teachers, based on which, according to him, teachers can work within a predictable framework.
According to his assessment, in the case of the financial recognition of teachers, progress has been made as much as never since the change of regime.
The minister said that there are people who are not happy about this and there are many people who are doing everything to ensure that this wage increase cannot continue and that the EU does not contribute to it.
Gergely Gulyás stated that the increase in teachers' wages is done with the money of Hungarian taxpayers, and the government has a promise from the European Union for subsequent financing. The cabinet agreed that the salary of teachers will reach 80 percent of the salary of graduates by 2030, and the EU will pay 12 percent of the salary increases necessary until then, he explained.
He went on to say that there remains a question of detail that affects a few hundred teachers and that the Ministry of the Interior is trying to find a fair solution.
He explained that the unions requested that the teacher, who announced his intention to retire by the end of December last year, should not have to make a statement about the new legal relationship. However, the wage increase is associated with the new legal relationship, he noted, so you can see the damage of this union request (although it was fulfilled).
He said that trade unions must be treated with caution several times, because it is difficult to recognize whether they represent the interests of teachers or act against them. For example, everything was done against the wage increase in international forums, Gulyás added.
MTI
Cover photo: Gergely Gulyás, Minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office,
MTI/Zoltán Máthé
