Verdict: FactCheck concludes that Sergo Ratiani’s statement is MOSTLY TRUE.

Resume:

The minimum wage and terms of labour remuneration for public school teachers are governed by the 2015 decree of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia. In accordance with the decree, the salaries of teachers should correspond to their professional development and career advancement plan. As of May 2018 (the end of the academic year), there is a total of 57,944 teachers in Georgia’s public schools. These teachers are divided into four categories:  practicing, senior, lead and mentor.

The labour remuneration plan for teachers envisages salary pay raise for only the senior (16,811), lead (202) and mentor (7) categories of teachers. It turns out that only 17,020 of the total 57,944 teachers are eligible for the first phase of the pay raise. However, even this group will not receive the minimum wage of GEL 800 as promised by the government. In order to be qualified for receiving a teacher category related bonus, a teacher should have a full teaching workload. A full teaching workload implies 18 teaching hours per week. In Georgia’s public schools, only 8,940 teachers have a full teaching workload. Of this amount, there are 3,163 senior teachers, 31 lead teachers and one mentor teacher. Additionally, 1,985 senior, lead and mentor teachers have more than a full teaching workload. Of the aforementioned 17,020 teachers within their respective categories, only 5,180 teachers have either a full or more than full teaching workload which is 8.9% of the total amount of teachers. However, this is not the maximum amount of teachers whose salaries could be increased to the level promised by the government. In fact, the number of teachers who meet the two primary criteria but have less than ten years of work experience and the number of teachers who do not have the necessary academic degree could be subtracted from that amount.

Analysis European Georgia – Movement for Freedom MP, Sergo Ratiani, spoke about the salaries of teachers at a session of the Parliament of Georgia and stated:

“Of the 58,000-60,000 teachers, 16,000 are certified. This accounts for an already disappointing situation. Of these 16,000, only 3,522 are eligible to receive the GEL 800 salary. The rest of them, or nearly 12,000 teachers, in effect, cannot receive their salaries only because they are tied to hourly pay and their public school cannot provide them with the required number of teaching hours.”

FactCheck

took interest in the accuracy of the statement.

As of May 2018 (the end of the academic year), there is a total of 57,944 teachers in Georgia’s public schools. These teachers are divided into four categories:  practicing, senior, lead and mentor. A teacher is a practicing teacher if he plans and conducts his teaching process in accordance with the standards outlined in the national curriculum. A senior teacher is one who meets the criteria of a practicing teacher as well as holds a certificate which attests to his teaching subject and methodological competence. A lead teacher is a teacher who meets the criteria of a senior teacher and develops effective teaching strategies based on practical research and whose results are shared with his teaching colleagues. A mentor teacher meets all of the criteria of a lead teacher and also elaborates recommendations for the improvement of teaching-learning quality, serves as a consultant for other teachers and supervises the pedagogical practice

of students as well as early career teachers.

Of the total amount of teachers in Georgia’s public schools, there are 40,924 practicing teachers, 16,811 senior teachers, 202 lead teachers and 7 mentor teachers.

Table 1:

Categories of Teachers in Georgia’s Public Schools

Teacher Category	Practicing	Senior	Lead	Mentor
Quantity	40,924	16,811	202	7

Source: Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia   The minimum wage and the terms of labour remuneration for public school teachers are governed by the decree

of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia issued on 28 September 2015. In accordance with this decree, the salaries of teachers should correspond to their professional development and career advancement plan. In accordance with this same decree, a teacher’s labour remuneration includes the salary, a salary supplement, a supplement for teaching united classes, a supplement for being a head teacher, a supplement for pupil professional orientation and planning, a supplement for working more than a full workload and a supplement for teaching in mountainous settlements and in non-Georgian schools/sectors.

At the same time, the amount of the supplements as defined in the teacher’s remuneration description depends on the aforementioned four categories. As of 2018, the full amounts of salary supplement in accordance with the respective teacher category may reach the following:

• Senior Teacher – GEL 320
• Lead Teacher – GEL 700
• Mentor – GEL 1,000

In regard to base salary of public school teachers where the aforementioned supplements are added, they were GEL 405 in 2017, 2016 and 2018, and GEL 355 in 2015.

To be more precise, the teacher labour remuneration calculation formula is as follows in accordance with the law:

Sal(m) = Sal(b)*Ed(c) + Sal(b)*Ed(c)*WS(c) + Sal(b)*WE(c)*WS(c)

In this formula:

Sal(m) = One month labour remuneration rate

Sal(b) = One month base salary (GEL 405)

Ed(c) = Coefficient corresponding to a teacher’s education

WS(c) = Coefficient of a teacher’s workload (0.15 notwithstanding the number of pupils in the class)

WE(c) = Coefficient corresponding to a teacher’s work experience

The coefficients are calculated according to the same law (see Table 2).

Table 2:

Coefficients Corresponding to the Teacher Salary Plan, Amount of Base Salary and Amount of Supplements Per Category

Base Salary, Work Experience, Academic Degree, Supplement Per Category	Coefficient	Amount of Money
Base Salary		405
Full Secondary Education	0.8
Vocational Education	0.9
Bachelor’s Degree or Equivalent	1.0
Master’s Degree or Equivalent	1.1
Doctoral Degree or Equivalent	1.2
Five Years Work Experience	0.2
Five to Ten Years Work Experience	0.5
Over Ten Years Work Experience	0.6
Supplement for Senior Teacher		320
Supplement for Lead Teacher		320
Supplement for Mentor Teacher		320

Source: Georgia’s Legislative Herald,

Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia

As illustrated by the table, the teacher labour remuneration plan envisages a pay raise for only senior (16,811), lead (202) and mentor (7) teachers. It turns out that only 17,020 of the total 57,994 teachers are eligible for the first phase of the pay raise. However, their position within a teacher category alone is not sufficient for receiving the GEL 800 and higher salary as promised by the government. In order to be qualified to receive a category related bonus, a teacher should have a full teaching workload. A full teaching workload implies that a teacher has 18 teaching hours per week. In Georgia’s public schools, only 8,940 teachers have a full teaching workload. Of this amount, there are 3,163 senior teachers, 31 lead teachers and one mentor teacher. Additionally, 1,985 senior, lead and mentor teachers have more than a full teaching workload. Of the aforementioned 17,020 teachers within their respective categories, only 5,180 teachers meet the two primary requirements for a pay raise which comprises 8.9% of the total amount of teachers. However, this is not the maximum amount of teachers whose salaries could be increased to the level promised by the government. In fact, the number of teachers who meet the two primary criteria but have less than ten years of work experience and the number of teachers without the necessary academic degree

could be subtracted from this amount.

For additional clarity, FactCheck addressed the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport with the question of how many teachers receive a salary of GEL 800 or more in Georgia’s public schools. The Ministry replied that it did not possess

this type of information.

In accordance with the Georgian Dream’s election programme, pay raises for teachers were to be carried out according to the plan with the average salary reaching GEL 800. At a special press conference, the then Minister of Education and Science, Aleksandre Jejelava, stated that teacher salaries were going to be increased from the next year and that the average salary was going to reach GEL 800. The former Prime Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, also confirmed that teacher salaries were going to be increased from 2017 with the average salary reaching GEL 800. These promises created an impression that each and every teacher’s average salary would be GEL 800. In fact, the existing plan for pay raises for teachers under the present circumstances allows this increase for a maximum of only 9% of all teachers throughout the whole of Georgia.