The Ministry of Education and Science has until 20 March to prepare and submit proposals for changes to the system of teacher remuneration.

This was announced by Serhiy Babak, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science and Innovation.

He noted that the Ministry planned to present its developments on a new model of teacher remuneration before the end of February. This should have allowed the draft law to be prepared in time to be submitted to parliament in March.

However, in early March, the working group responsible for drafting the changes held only one meeting.

According to Babak, the situation with the deadlines is quite tense. If the draft law is not submitted by the end of March, the Verkhovna Rada may not have time to consider it before the start of the new school year. In this case, teachers will again be left without a clear understanding of what their salaries will be.

At the same time, Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi and his deputy Anastasia Sofiyenko assured MPs that the ministry had already prepared tools for a quick discussion and development of a new remuneration model.

According to them, the experts have prepared a technical document containing the main objectives of the reform, a detailed analysis of the current payment structure, as well as a public salary calculator and tools for modelling various options.

The Ministry of Education and Science emphasises that this document should simplify the work of the specialised group and help find a balanced solution that will take into account the positions of all stakeholders and allow for an increase in the salaries of teachers.

MPs, for their part, emphasise that the parliament expects this draft law to be submitted in due time.

According to Serhiy Babak, teachers should not depend on delays in decision-making, so further steps in this matter should be timely, thoughtful and responsible.