Izvestia: “Teachers to make 30% more”
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin finds more money for education.
Soon teachers could see a 30% raise and come close to the average salary in their region. The funds earmarked for the repair of school buildings and the purchase of new equipment will be used for this purpose. The federal center will foot the bill for repairs and equipment, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a government meeting yesterday.
It was no accident that this social issue was raised at the White House yesterday. On April 20, Putin will make his annual report of government performance to the State Duma. He has emphasized more than once that "we did the right thing during the crisis by concentrating on the needs of the people." "However, we could not help everyone in need," he admitted.
Thus, the average salary for teachers in 2009 (the final figures for 2010 have not yet been published) was 13,000 roubles, which compares with a national average salary of 18,000 roubles. Teachers' salaries have remained almost the same since then. Now they barely reach 14,000 roubles while the national average has risen to 23,400 roubles. Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, invited to the meeting, said "the teaching profession is losing its status." He added it is no longer possible to postpone the issue of increasing teachers' salaries.
"Schools belong to the municipal and regional levels but we shouldn't give the impression that we have nothing to do with them," Putin said and suggested redistributing the money spent on education. In 2009, the regions spent 620 billion roubles on education, including 560 billion on teachers' salaries. The remaining 60 billion roubles were spent on the repair of school buildings and the purchase of new equipment.
"We could help the regions repair these buildings so they could use the funds to pay higher salaries to teachers," Putin said.
The regions will add their own funds to this 60 billion roubles for a total of about 85-95 billion roubles.
"We will be able to increase teachers' salaries by about 30% in the near future," Putin summed up.
But who will guarantee that the regions will spend their savings (and will add their own money) on teachers' salaries? Minister of Education and Science, Andrei Fursenko, recalled the well known slogan of all national projects and federal programmes – "money in exchange for commitments" and reported that his ministry has the experience of signing agreements and monitoring compliance with them. "Moreover, these subsidies will not be allocated forever, but for a specified period to better motivate the regions," he concluded.
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Officials to report on spending
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised to propose amendments to the current legislation on the declaration of incomes by deputies and officials, notably, to oblige them to report on their spending as well.
Putin voiced this idea for the first time at United Russia's inter-regional conference on March 4. "The discussion showed that society welcomes this anti-corruption move," Putin said yesterday and asked Vyacheslav Volodin, chief of the Government Staff, "to hold consultations with the deputies and draft the amendments to the current legislation." "I'm confident that this measure will help us improve the performance of the government machine and create additional barriers to corruption and the laundering of criminal income," he added.
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The car scrapping programme may be continued
Having made this statement yesterday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin instructed his cabinet to "review our financial resources" and submit proposals for extending the car scrapping programme." He recalled that this programme was suggested as an anti-crisis measure and that it worked. The government support helped domestic car makers survive and it encouraged demand. Almost half a million cars were sold at favourable terms.
By Yulia Shestopyorova
