To keep specialists in the system and attract more professionals in education, it is key to financially motivate education employees, says Ghenadie Donos, president of the Federation of Education and Science Unions, according to whom the average salary in education should be equal to the average salary in Moldova.
This year the average monthly salary is officially estimated at about 11,700 lei. Ghenadie Donos says offering salaries no lower than this to teachers should become a national priority.
“The average salary in education should be equal to the average salary in the national economy. We are not asking for much. But the average salary nationwide is over 11,000 lei, whereas in education is 8,700 lei. Meaning it’s about 80% of that. For the past thirty years we’ve been talking that education must be a priority, that people should not only receive verbal praise, but also be motivated financially, and, unfortunately, we are still far away from this goal. I do understand that the current situation in our country is precarious, but we hope that this basic problem, the financial motivation of teachers, will be addressed as well. Attracting specialists is done with motivating salaries”, said Ghenadie Donos during a show on Radio Moldova.
Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei, PAS lawmaker and former education minister, is optimistic that bringing the average salary in education closer to the national level is possible.
“If we had a stable and growing economy, the situation would be different. We have always had the highest percentage of GDP directed to education, and only during the pandemic and then the energy crisis, which we were plunged into due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, a lot of funds were directed from the national budget to the social sector, to aid the population. This year education funding, including for salaries, increased by 24%. True, we are still not at the level of the national salary, but this can be achieved”, said MP Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei.
Recently the Ministry of Education raised teachers’ bonuses for homeroom and for checking students’ papers.
