Kachanova: No Money For Teachers, Let Them Go For “Extra Services”

The government is incapable of raising teachers’ salaries even before the “elections”.

Vice-PM Natallia Kachanava has stated that the government is working to fulfill Lukashenka’s order to grant decent salaries to teachers. However, the Vice-PM shuffles off responsibility for this on the teachers themselves.

“I cannot promise that we can raise the wages right now,” — Vice-PM Natallia Kachanava has told the journalists. She has added no serious reforms are planned, tut.by reports.

— We want to liberate the desire of teachers to earn on extra-budgetary activities and to provide extra services. This does not require budgetary costs, but will allow teachers to receive certain dividends, — Natallia Kachanava has described one of the initiatives.

It turns out that it is unprofitable for educators to work overtime and give extra lessons – the bonuses remain insignificant.

— One Saturday I visited one of Minsk schools and saw a great number of small children there. It turned out that their parents take them there for pre-school preparation studies since the age of 2. However, it’s an individual entrepreneur who gives these lessons, he is only renting premises in the educational institution, — the Vice-PM has said. — This is not bad that someone gives private lessons but the teachers of this school could also get involved in a similar initiative to earn some extra money. We want to make this beneficial for a teacher.

Another initiative concerns bonuses for the teachers who haven’t left the educational system after the obligatory post-graduate assignment. However, this initiative seems to remain at the level of an idea: Kachanava considered it “economically unreasonable”.

— There is a proposal to increase bonuses for teachers from the second to the third year of work. But here we need to calculate and economically align everything, — the Vice Prime Minister has said.