The Czech government’s promise of competitive teacher salaries has fallen short of expectations. Primary and secondary school teachers earned an average of 50,469 crowns monthly last year, including higher-paid principals and administrators. While the government pledged teacher salaries would reach 130% of the average gross wage, they’ve only achieved 109.3% of the national average wage of 46,165 crowns.
In a controversial move, the government introduced a calculation method that compares teacher salaries with wage data from two years prior. Even with this adjustment, teachers only reached 126.4% of the benchmark. Former Education Minister Robert Plaga criticized this approach as misleading both citizens and teachers.
Looking ahead, the Ministry of Education projects teacher salaries will reach 56,056 crowns this year, matching 130% of the 2023 average wage. However, experts like Daniel Münich from IDEA at CERGE-EI are skeptical about achieving this target, noting it would require a nearly 10% increase while the broader economy is expected to see only 5-6% wage growth.
The situation is further complicated by a funding gap for non-teaching staff. The National Budget Council reports a 10.5 billion crown shortfall, raising concerns that teachers’ performance bonuses might be redirected to cover non-teaching staff salaries. The year-over-year comparison shows teacher salary growth at just 1.21%, significantly below both the general wage growth of 7.1% and the annual inflation rate of 2.4%.