.
Public school teachers will have their salaries reinstate to pre-2013 levels as of January 1, simply because negotiations on renewing or extending the mild austerity measures will probably not be concluded in time.
At the same time, those teachers who ‘earned’ promotions, will now start getting their upwardly revised wages. In effect, the only thing that this administration succeeded is postponing the pay rises for three years.
Bit by bit, the government is reneging on its commitments to keep public spending in check and despite giving in to union demands for more hirings, the payroll will once again start to rise. This is hardly what one would call ‘good housekeeping’ or a sustainable budget.
Do the members of the Cabinet knowingly approve these pay rises or are they being duped by senior civil servants?
Surely, what the government doesn’t realise is that the disparity between private and public sector teachers will once again start to widen, with the immediate result of seeing a drop in productivity in both sectors – the public school teachers couldn’t care less as they will get their salaries and pay rises and the private school teachers have secured jobs with no incentive to do better.
In the age of digital illiteracy, poor results in benchmark reviews and lack of vocational training, the education reform does not seem to be doing much. Unless of course the only purpose of the reform was to mislead parents and employers that by using modern techniques and advanced teaching and management methods, the country’s educational standard will rise.
Lack of proper education, closure of key schools, and an absence of vocational training centres will hardly raise standards. On the contrary, too much emphasis has been placed of late on university education, as a result of which Cyprus is approaching a saturation point of academics and professors, but grossly lacks technicians or other vital professions, that would help generate output and contribute to the economy.
Giving teachers raises they don’t deserve, when the private sector in general is still suffering from depressed wage levels, reward schemes and near-bankrupt pension funds, is totally wrong. Trouble is, has anyone realised this?
