“Teachers will be receiving a ten percent pay rise in July”, the Minister of Human Capacities announced in Budapest on Monday.

Miklós Kásler told reporters that the pay increase will technically be realised through the introduction of professional allowance for the sector, for which everyone in a teaching position will be eligible. The measure will affect some 170 thousand teachers.

“In the case of trainee teachers, the sector allowance, which has already increased by 8 percent on 1 January, will be realised over and above the guaranteed minimum wage for people with diplomas. Thanks to this latest ten percent pay rise, trainee salaries will have increased by 18 percent over the space of six months” he explained.

“In the interests of further increasing the efficiency and quality of public education, the government has decided that the heads of institutions and their deputies will be receiving a managerial supplement from July that will be linked to the number of students”, the Minister indicated.

“The salaries of head teachers who directs schools with over a thousand students and have been in the profession for 35 years will be increasing from 629,300 forints gross to a total of 812,000 forints gross thanks to the new, 182,700-forint gross supplement”, Mr. Kásler pointed out.

“The monthly salary of a school principal with a university degree who heads a school with at least four hundred students, who has been teaching for 33 years and is currently at grade I in the pay scale, will be increasing by 142,100 forints from 477,050 gross to 619,150 gross. There are 6 thousand such teachers in Hungary”, the Minister told the press.

“The supplement for deputy head teachers and heads of department and member institutions will be half of that being introduced in the case of school principals. This pay increase affects 9 thousand teachers”, he continued.

“In the interests of acknowledging and supporting quality education, head teachers will be able to further encourage outstanding performance through awarding a maximum additional monthly allowance of 101,500 forints gross”, the Minister stated.

“The government’s task is to assure the training and further education of teachers, to continuously improve their working conditions and salaries, and to acknowledge their activities”, Mr. Kásler said.

The Minister reminded the press that in accordance with the importance of the teachers’ career model, it was the first to be developed and introduced in 2013 after the country successfully avoided the threat of economic bankruptcy.

“The salaries of teachers have increased by an average of 50 percent since 2013, which has significantly contributed to an improvement in their job market position, an increase in their professional and social status, and has tangibly increased the number of people training to be teachers within the higher education system”, Mr. Kásler declared.

“In the interests of assuring the increased benefits, last year the government spent an additional 355 billion forints (EUR 1.05 billion) on teachers’ salaries compared to 2010”, he added.

(MTI)