Teachers Need Pay Rise, Not Benefits

A proposal to improve fringe benefits for schoolteachers in Kyrgyzstan may make their lives easier, but vital new blood won’t come into the profession unless basic salaries increase, according to NBCentralAsia observers.



On March 14, Ombudsman Tursunbay Bakir Uulu said that Kyrgyzstan should set up a social benefits system for school teachers to compensate for the low salaries they receive. He proposed a benefits package including reduced utilities payments, housing subsidies and free trips to health spas.



Observers say a new benefits system would provide some incentive but would not go far enough to fill the chronic shortage of teachers.



“There are currently no serious mechanisms to support teachers,” said Gaisha Ibragimova, a former deputy education minister. “So giving benefits to teachers would be a good step”.



Kyrgyzstan is suffering a major shortage of teachers, especially in rural areas, and the government has devised a special programme to attract professionals into village schools.



Young teachers involved in the programme will be paid an extra 2,000 som, just over 50 US dollars, a month on top of their salary for three years, but they can only collect the supplement if they complete the entire period. Only selected teachers chosen on a competitive basis are eligible for the programme.



Secondary school teachers in Kyrgyzstan earn an average of 50 US dollars a month.



Natalya Aleschenko, head teacher at Kelechek, a private school, says the social benefits system will go some way to helping Kyrgyzstan out of its education crisis.



“I can’t say that giving benefits will help resolve the crisis altogether, but it will play a part,” said Aleschenko. “If the government can’t increase salaries, then offering benefits and access to health resorts is a real necessity.”



Sapar Orozbakov, director of the Centre for Economic Analysis in Bishkek says that unless a long-term programme of sustainable funding can be developed, benefits will not solve the staffing problems.



“Benefits are not the way to solve problems. If we want to retain state schooling, which is now in the process of breaking down, we should not [only] implement benefits, but raise teachers’ pay,” he said.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)