The average gross monthly salary of a full-time teacher at general education schools run by the Estonian state was 889 euros at the end of February, the Ministry of Education and Research said on Tuesday.
Avg teacher salary in Estonian state schools is EUR 889 - ministry
5th March 2013, 17:18
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The monthly salary of teachers at state-run general education schools rose 10 percent on the average compared with the same time last year, the ministry said. The rise was fastest for junior teachers, whose monthly salary went up 15.5 percent to 841 euros. For teaching staff without a teacher grade the average salary climbed 10.4 percent to 762 euros, for teachers it climbed 10.3 percent to 865 euros, for senior teachers 8 percent to 949 euros and for teachers of methodologist grade 8.1 percent to 1,075 euros.
The ministry said that this year the government gave municipalities 160 million euros to be paid out as teacher salaries, compared with 143 million euros last year. The allocation this year has been made strictly for the designated purpose, meaning that all the money must reach the payroll of schools, spokespeople for the ministry said.
In order to learn how much a municipality can pay its teachers using the money provided by the government alone one has to divide the sum given by the government by 12 (months) and the number of full-time teachers in the municipality. Furthermore it has to be divided by 1.34 to adjust it to the effect of social tax, the ministry said. A calculation like this shows that the money provided by the state alone would enable to pay teachers an average salary of 915 euros across Estonia and 1,040 euros in Tallinn.
The ministry said that in some municipalities things continue to be in a disarray as far as teacher salaries go. "It has to be regretted that the largest municipality, Tallinn, for instance, has not yet had time to allocate to schools the money issued in January and thus to raise the salaries of teachers," it said.
The ministry said it is planning to start publishing similar statistics for all municipalities.