Teachers Will be no Better off for Pay Rise

Although teachers in Tajikistan have been promised a pay rise they will not end up any better off, and this will continue to discourage people from entering the profession, NBCentralAsia observers say.



Teachers in Tajik secondary schools will see their monthly salary rise by 15 per cent from April 1, according to the president’s press service.



But at the same time, all their existing allowances will be abolished, bar the bonus teachers can pick up for supervising classes and marking written work. Among the perks that will go are the allowances for books, periodicals and health care which are added onto teachers’ monthly salaries.



The average monthly salary for teachers in Tajikistan is around 60 somoni, or less than 20 US dollars.



The 15 per cent pay rise has been welcomed by trade unions, who note that this is the 12th salary increase teachers have received since independence in 1991.



“It is certainly not as big as we would like it to be, but we are glad that even in such difficult economic conditions, the country’s leadership have raised the funds to increase teachers’ pay,” said a representative of the teachers’ trade union.



According to the former principal of a school in Dushanbe, the allowances which have now been axed were open to abuse, as head teachers and other education officials would distribute them at their own discretion.



But even if more money comes direct into their pay packets, teachers are not celebrating. “A 15 per cent raise is not enough to attract new teachers into schools. It will have virtually no effect on their purchasing power… Nor will it be an incentive for teachers who are already working,” said the former head.



According to official figures, Tajikistan is short of around 6,000 teachers, in various subjects.



The former principal also said inflation is Tajikistan is rising so fast that this salary increase will not keep pace with the escalating cost of living.



NBCentralAsia economic expert Hojimuhammad Umarov agreed, saying inflation would wipe out the effect of the pay rise now that allowances have been cut. He believes that taking current prices into account, teachers should be paid no less than 400 somoni, or 110 dollars, a month.



A teacher from one secondary school who wishes to remain anonymous told NBCentralAsia that a hefty 30 per cent rise was promised only a month ago.



“Now we have been told that this increase will be at the expense of allowances.… This is at the very least a dishonest way of dealing with teaching staff,” he said.



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