Public funding for primary and secondary schools should increase on average by €110 million a year, in the period 2014 - 2016, while funds for higher education should go up by €20 million a year, says a Report on the state of education in Slovakia. Moreover, teachers' salaries should slightly go up as well, 1.2 times more than the average salary, reaching around €965 by 2016.
The aim of the Education Ministry is to reach the average level of public expenditures invested in primary and secondary schools in OECD countries by 2020.
The Education Workers Union welcomes the report and the proposal of the Education Ministry, as increasing funding for the sector by around €200 million every year was one of the main demands of last year's school employees strike. As the TASR press agency reports, the leader of the Education Workers Union Pavel Ondek is happy with the report and the possible hike in the budget for primary and secondary schools, however, he says this is good news only if the promise is kept and the money will actually go to the schools.
The report is now subject to negotiations of the unions and the Education Minister Dušan Čaplovič and should be discussed among Minister’s at the next meeting of the Government. As the Sme daily printed, Education Minister Čaplovič discussed the budget hike with Finance Minister Peter Kažimír, however did not want to give more information on their agreement.
