Vitebsk region's experience in increasing teachers' salaries should be extended to other regions - MP

The experience of the Vitebsk region in approaches to teachers' remuneration should be extended to other regions of the country. This was announced in Polotsk to journalists by Alexander Segodnik, Chairman of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly on Education, Culture and Science.

He is taking part in an off-site joint meeting of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on Education, Culture and Science and the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Belarusian Trade Union of Education and Science Workers, which is taking place in Polotsk.

"The regulatory framework in this area is the same across the country, but each region has its own approaches. For example, a contract employee has the right to receive bonuses, but what kind of bonuses is determined by local authorities. If you analyze wages in the regions, then in the Vitebsk region, it is the highest," the interlocutor stated. He explained that the task is to bring teachers' salaries to the same level as the regional average. "So, it can be stated that the teaching staff of the Vitebsk region already has it higher - for January-September it is 103% of the regional average. No other region has reached such a level, not even the city of Minsk, although the figures there are higher, but the average salary in Minsk is significantly higher," said Alexander Segodnik. The focus of the participants of the off-site joint meeting is the interaction of local authorities, education management structures, and the industry trade union on the development of professional potential and the enhancement of the status of pedagogical workers in light of the improvement of the legislative framework of the country's education system (using the Vitebsk region as an example).

Among the issues discussed are the improvement of legislation to ensure social guarantees for employees of the education system; the role of local authorities in creating conditions for pedagogical workers for the high-quality organization of the educational process in educational institutions of the Vitebsk region; the development of social partnership as a factor in improving the economic situation of teachers and increasing the prestige of the profession.

Alena Tikhonova, BELTA.