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However, the recently passed law guaranteeing a level of pay for teachers is unclear. "If it were to be true that teachers will receive 130 percent of the average salary of the given year on average, 27 billion more would be needed for the next year," economist and head of the CERGE-EI Institute Daniel Münich told Práv.
The estimate includes the assumption that teachers' salaries will rise by four percent this year, as promised by the government. Last year, the salary of teachers excluding management staff and teaching assistants amounted to 46,521 per month on average. Munich also based its calculations on the Ministry of Finance's April forecast for the growth of the republic's average wage.
And the calculation is based on the number of teachers in 2022. "However, in my opinion, the number of teachers will increase by two percent, which would mean additional costs," he noted.
The government has not yet clarified how the calculations will be made. Only the Minister of Education Mikuláš Bek (STAN) let it be known that the only accurate reference point is the average salary of the year before last, i.e. in this case 2022, when it was 40,353 crowns.
This would mean that the Ministry of Education would only need nine billion extra for teacher salaries. "But teachers' salaries in 2024 would actually remain at 114 percent of the average salary, i.e. they would only rise slightly compared to this year. This would make the Czech Republic one third of the OECD countries with the lowest relative salaries for teachers," Münich added.
The Ministry of Education does not accept cuts and expects to increase funds.
"The final result depends on the collective decision of the government. The Ministry of Education sent the Ministry of Finance a detailed statement on its proposal and we drew attention to the effects it would have. And that also from the point of view of legal obligations, as well as the government's declaration," Deputy Minister of Education Jiří Nantl (ODS) told Práv.
Among other things, the government declaration guarantees that the share of GDP expenditure on education and training should correspond to the average OECD standards. And behind that, the Czech Republic is limping along.