The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has strongly criticized the proposal to raise teachers’ salaries to the level of three minimum wages, emphasizing its financial unrealistic nature for the state budget and the potential negative consequences for other budgetary sectors.
This is reported by Finway
Ministry of Finance’s Position on Salary Increases
During a meeting of the education committee held on November 21, Deputy Minister of Finance Roman Yermolichev noted that the initiative by committee chairman Serhiy Babak, which proposes to start increasing teachers’ salaries from September 2026, lacks long-term financial justification for the state. According to Yermolichev, the government has already allocated an additional 48 billion UAH for education in 2026, but to support salary increases in 2027, an additional 92.6 billion UAH will need to be found.
The Ministry of Finance warns that a significant increase in payments in one sector will lead to chain demands for salary increases in other budget areas. According to the ministry’s calculations, to ensure a comparable level of wages in the healthcare, social protection, and culture sectors, an additional approximately 100 billion UAH will need to be allocated.
“The state cannot afford to increase expenditures by 200 billion UAH solely for salaries, without considering other social payments and pensions,” emphasized Yermolichev.
Concerns of Educators and the Prospects for Reforms
Following the criticism from the Ministry of Finance, a representative of the educators’ union expressed concern that, in addition to the risk of teachers being left without the promised salary increase, they may also face additional burdens and be transferred to fixed-term contracts under new initiatives.
Thus, the issue of increasing the salaries of educational staff remains open and may become a subject of further discussions between relevant committees and government officials, taking into account the financial capabilities of the state.