Imaginary and real money of teachers

Yesterday, our Minister of Education Dmitry Livanov allowed himself a statement that instantly attracted the attention of those who study or work at the university or were once involved in this.

It turns out that up to 30 thousand rubles - only low-qualified teachers or hourly workers receive such a salary. Moreover, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that it is not said 5 thousand or even 10, but up to 30. They say this amount is a trifle, a handout that only someone who knows or can do little will agree to. A little earlier, in November, the rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities, Efim Pivovar, in an interview, assessed the financial affairs of his university’s employees as follows : “As of November, the average salary at the Russian State University for the Humanities was 48.6 thousand rubles.”

It seems that people holding such high positions have no idea how things REALLY work out in the institutions under their jurisdiction. Let's take the same Russian State University for the Humanities. This is a humanitarian university, and the issue of funding has always been more pressing here. So, at the Faculty of History and Philology, a salary of 15 - 20 thousand rubles is considered high - this is for doctors of science! All teachers of a lower rank, especially young ones, graduate students or those who have just defended their dissertation, receive correspondingly less! The official salary of a teacher without an academic degree or an assistant is 3000 rubles. Per month. Where do these average numbers come from? How and who calculates them?

Our Ministry of Education should stop engaging in window dressing and reporting, and should first of all increase real wages. Otherwise, the country's universities will either be left without staff or drown in corruption. I will not go into discussions about how important the work of a teacher is and what it means for the country as a whole to have good teachers in good educational institutions. Even if the state doesn’t care about the scientific activities of all candidates and doctors of science combined (talking about money for science, grants and scholarships is a different matter), then at least it would be worth thinking about adequate remuneration for educational activities.

Nowadays, in universities, in important disciplines, especially the humanities (history, philology, languages, etc.), only scientific devotees who are often unable to provide themselves with a decent life remain to work. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand how this affects the social prestige of a given profession and academic career in general. If the Minister of Education believes that young teachers, yesterday’s graduate students, do not deserve normal money, then he should think about who and how will replace today’s professors. And how are we going to support Russian science in general?

The average statistical data of any reports is, of course, a wonderful thing, but it would be good to know how they are actually obtained. Our officials love to report beautifully, but we would really like the state and society to address real problems and allocate real money for them. Instead of painting fences in yards twice a year, replacing asphalt with tiles, or buying expensive computers for ministerial offices.