The start of the new school year promises to be “in suitable” but “not optimal” conditions, said Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye on Thursday evening, specifying that the salary increase promised for teachers would take place in September 2023. ‘announcement in conditions quite similar to last year when conditions have deteriorated,’ said the minister on France 2, referring to the shortage of teachers which led to the hiring of “3,000 contract workers”.
“We have to deal with the situation which is tense”
“We are having difficulty recruiting tenured teachers,” conceded the minister. “We have to deal with the situation which is tense, we are doing the best,” he said, adding that these contract workers represented 0.3% of the total number of teachers. “It’s a bit too much, I admit it very willingly, but we are doing the best we can to train them, support them”, detailed the minister. Despite these recruitments, there is still a shortage of 3,000 teachers for the start of the school year.
“The start of the new school year promises to be in suitable conditions, I would not say optimal”, he continued, judging it necessary to make the profession “more attractive”. To achieve this, the Head of State Emmanuel Macron announced earlier today that the revaluation of teachers’ salaries would be “continued” so that none of them would start their careers “at less than 2,000 euros net”. per month. Currently, the 2,000 euros net are reached at step 8 on the salary grid (between 13 and 14 years of seniority).
This wage increase, “it will be for the start of the 2023 school year”, said Pap Ndiaye. “We are going to make proposals both for career entry, but also for career midfielders, which are also problematic. And then other proposals because the reasons why the profession is less attractive than in the past are not salary only”. “The President of the Republic spoke of a 10% increase in (additional) remuneration, we are going to discuss this fall (with the trade unions) to specify the conditions for this increase”, added the minister.