For the purpose of public and professional consultation, the Interior Ministry published a draft legislation on the government’s website on Thursday. The document pertains to the further salary increases for teachers, as well as other questions related to public education.

Maruzsa Zoltán, the State Secretary for Public Education at the Ministry of Interior Affairs, also informed the leaders of teacher trade unions and the National Faculty of Pedagogy about the start of consultations on Wednesday. The Ministry said that several months of professional work and online consultations with teachers preceded the preparation of the drafts. An agreement was reached between the interest groups and the government regarding the scheduling of consultations, with the aim of agreeing on as many issues as possible between the parties, Maruzsa’s statement said.

Furthermore, according to the draft legislation published on Thursday, the Ministry proposes additional teacher salary increases, the simplification of the teacher’s career advancement scheme and performance evaluation system, as well as the creation of a public education employment relationship.

One of the draft amendments aims to modify the budget law for further teacher salary increases, and to enshrine the Hungarian government’s commitments into law to ensure that salary increases continue even in the times of war and sanctions.

The government was able to facilitate a 10 per cent increase in teacher salaries from January onward, but once Brussels releases the EU funds due to Hungary, the largest teacher salary increase since the regime change can follow, at least 21 per cent. Thereafter, the salary increase in 2024 may be as high as 25 per cent compared to the 2021 salary level, and in 2025, it may even reach 29–30 per cent. The goal is to have the average salary of teachers reach 80 per cent of the average salary of college graduates in the country by 2025.

In addition to the salary increase, consultations will begin on other issues related to public education and teachers as well. The Ministry of Interior Affairs formulated its proposals while taking into account the results of the online consultation with teachers.

During the online consultation on public education, the majority of teachers supported the idea that further salary increases should greatly consider if a teacher worked in a disadvantaged area, or worked with a significantly higher proportion of disadvantaged children.