Illustrative photo - Education Minister Mikuláš Bek debated on 29 May 2023 in Karlovy Vary about the establishment of a university in the Karlovy Vary Region that would focus on teaching in regionally needed fields. ČTK/Kubeš Slavomír

Prague - The budget approved by the government provides for an increase of CZK 4 billion in the education budget compared to the current year. At the same time, the budget approved by the government on Wednesday allows to meet the commitment to increase teachers' salaries. On the social network X today uvedl Education Minister Mikuláš Bek (STAN). The education budget for 2024 is to amount to almost CZK 269 billion, Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura (ODS) said on Wednesday after the budget was approved.

"The budget approved by the Government, which envisages an increase of CZK 4 billion in the education budget compared to 2023, represents a significant shift compared to previous proposals. It makes it possible to meet the commitment to increase teachers' salaries. In addition, there is an agreement at government level that four billion in additional funds will be made available to the education sector next year from the state budget for reform and investment in infrastructure," Bek wrote on social media.

Education Ministry spokesperson Tereza Fojtová declined to comment on the budget today. "We will present details of the budget at a press conference on Tuesday, 3 October," she said in response to questions from the Czech Press Agency.

Lawmakers approved this year that the state should legally give at least 130 % of the average gross nominal salary per teacher to teacher salaries starting next year. Jana Berkovcová (ANO), the shadow education minister of the opposition ANO movement, said earlier that about CZK 30 billion was needed to increase teachers' salaries under the law. Daniel Münich, an economist and head of the CERGE-EI Institute, recently said that an extra CZK 27 billion would be needed for 2024 to make it valid for teachers to receive 130 percent of the average salary in a given year.

Czech Deputy Education Minister Jiří Nantl (ODS) recently told the daily Právo that "the goal that the Government has set in its program declaration and confirmed in law, that teachers' salaries should be 130 % of the average wage, will not be achieved", the daily reported in its 21 September edition. According to the deputy minister, the basis for the calculation of the indexation is the average wage for 2022, and teachers' earnings will thus be around 113 per cent of the average wage in the Czech Republic.

Last year, according to the Czech Statistical Office, teachers' earnings were 110 % of the average wage in the Czech Republic. According to the statisticians, teachers in kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools had an average gross monthly salary of about CZK 48 000 last year after taking into account all extra pay and bonuses. In the first quarter of this year, average wages in the education sector grew by 3.9 percent compared to the previous year, making education the sector with the lowest wage growth. According to data from the Education Ministry, 154,000 teachers and 6,000 vocational teachers worked in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools last year.

According to the Finance Ministry's initial proposal, CZK 253.4 billion was to be allocated to education from the state budget for 2024, which would mean a CZK 11.6 billion decrease compared to this year. Minister Bek announced at the time that the budget would be changed.

(CTK/Zro)