Slovakia lacks hundreds of teachers

There were 550 job offers for teaching staff on the edujobs.sk portal for Slovak teachers on Thursday. Bratislava faces the most serious lack of teachers as half of the vacancies are from the capital. "There is an enormous demand for teachers at the first level of primary schools, but we also need qualified teachers of foreign languages, who have opportunities to earn a better income in the city," said Marek Tettinger, spokesperson of the Bratislava New Town Borough. According to Ján Papuga, director of the Elementary School on Riazanská street, they also lack teachers of physics and technical subjects. Tettinger also said that it is mostly people just before retirement age who apply for these positions, or people not living in the capital or even applicants without the necessary education. Moreover, according to Tettinger, they also face difficulties looking for after-school carers and non-teaching staff such as cleaners and cooks. Schools offer only a minimum salary and people can earn more money elsewhere.