Deputy Education Minister Katarzyna Lubnauer said the Sejm’s education committee is currently working on a citizens’ draft law that would tie teachers’ pay to average indicators in the economy.
“In the Ministry of National Education, legal and financial work is underway on the necessary changes in the system of teacher remuneration,” Lubnauer wrote in response to a parliamentary question. She said a government bill would later include a “mechanism guaranteeing a constant increase in teachers’ salaries adequate to the economic situation of the state.”
The Polish Teachers’ Union (ZNP) submitted the citizens’ bill to parliament in 2024. Its leader Sławomir Broniarz recently voiced anger at what he called the lack of action from the ministry.
“Something that was promised to us and has been frozen in the Sejm cannot pass so indifferently through the hearts and minds of teachers,” he said, warning of far-reaching consequences.
Lubnauer said the proposed mechanism would cost more than 38 billion zlotys annually, not counting the impact of a planned 3% pay rise in 2026.
“Taking the above into account, the implementation of new solutions in the field of teacher remuneration (regardless of the final formula of the guarantee of their level) will be possible at the earliest in the next budget year,” she wrote.
Education Minister Barbara Nowacka also reiterated the government’s pledge in an interview with the PAP Local Government Service. “Of course, what would satisfy all of us is a higher increase in wages and this is our commitment – of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the finance minister and mine. There will be a link between teachers’ salaries and indicators in the economy,” she said.
A March 2025 forecast by the Ministry of National Education projects a clear decline in student numbers in the coming years. The ministry said the demographic downturn could gradually ease current teacher shortages and lead to fewer overtime hours.
(jh)
Source: PAP