The Armenian government allocated on Thursday 1.7 billion drams ($3.5 million) for financing this year a 10 percent increase in the salaries of schoolteachers effective from September 1.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian promised the pay rise in March when he touted additional tax revenues collected by the State Revenue Committee (SRC).
The measure will affect the nearly 38,000 teachers of Armenia’s public schools. Their monthly salary has averaged approximately 80,000 drams until now.
The average monthly wage in Armenia currently stands at over 187,000 drams ($392), according official statistics.
“We certainly don’t regard this pay rise as revolutionary,” Pashinian said at the latest cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “On the other hand, this is the beginning of a process which will continue if we manage to put in place the right mechanisms.”
Education Minister Arayik Harutiunian said in this regard that his ministry hopes to raise the teachers’ minimum wage to 108,000 drams already next year through the introduction of a “new formula for financing schools.” He denied “false” reports about ongoing massive staff cuts in the chronically underfunded schools.
“The staff cuts have been ordinary, just like they were in the past,” said Harutiunian. “They are mainly to do with [teachers’] retirement age.”
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