Romania to Raise Salaries of Teaching Staff

The centre-left government of Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Tuesday announced plans to increase the salaries of employees in the state education sector by 15 per cent, starting from December.

This follows a 25 per cent raise earlier this month in the wages of Romanian doctors and nurses, which are among the lowest in Europe.

"Education and healthcare should go together. There should be no differentiated salary increases for these two sectors," Ponta said.

The education pay rise will benefit 304,000 employees and will cost the state budget an estimated 1.7 billion lei (38 million euro) a year.

The increase in healthcare salaries meanwhile will cost an estimated 1.6 billion lei (37 million euro) a year.

Following the 25 per cent rise, the salary of a doctor starts at 2,000 lei (440 euro) a month. By comparison, the average salary of a teacher is of around 300 euro a month.

Experts said that increasing wages for public sector workers was the right move, but not a solution.

"The problem is that the rises are more a reaction to a sensitive social issue than an attempt to correct the system. Reform in the education and health system is a must; bigger salaries are just a part of the solution," said education analyst Stefan Vlaston.

He added that it is still unclear if the government will have enough money in its coffers to cover new expenses.

For years, many Romanian doctors and teachers have depended on informal payments including bribes. Gifts were also customary.

Some 7,000 doctors have emigrated in the past four years due to low pay, low morale and a lack of investment in the system.

Delays to much-needed reforms have also damaged the quality of Romania's schooling system, in which only a few schools...