The state offers wage increases, but not enough. This week, therefore, educators are deciding whether the semester starts on time or whether to go on strike
The teachers are going to another meeting with the Government of Serbia this Monday (January 13), after which they will probably decide whether to continue the strike.
To schools could start working next Monday (January 20), the Government of Serbia must already on Thursday (January 16) pass a decree on new teachers' salaries.
"The deadline that we and the Government of Serbia have to decide on the negotiations is this Thursday," Dobrivoje Marjanović from the Union of Educators' Unions told "Vreme". "Our membership will give an answer tomorrow as to what it thinks about the offer, after a new meeting with the Government."
Ahead of the new negotiations with the state, Marjanović says that, in addition to the demand for salary increases, there is another big problem - pressure on teachers.
"School principals are putting enormous pressure on educators to end the strike," he adds. "The state must first get out of the schools, we negotiate for nothing if there is chaos on the ground."
Katarina Šćepanović Ostojić from the Forum of Belgrade High Schools tells "Vreme" that there is great dissatisfaction among teachers due to the state's attitude towards them, as well as the offer that has arrived.
What has been offered so far
On January 9, Prime Minister of Serbia Miloš Vučević offered teachers a salary increase of five percent in March and another five percent in October.
After the meeting, Vucevic assessed that progress had been made in the negotiations, while the educators stated that they do not know if the second semester will start on time, on January 20.
The Prime Minister added that in January 2026, there will be a seven percent increase for educators as well as for others in the public sector.
He stated that with an 11 percent increase in January 2025, two increases in March and October, and an increase in January 2026, teachers will receive a 31 percent salary increase in 13 months.
Educators, on the other hand, demand the fulfillment of the requirements stated in the Protocol of 2023, which was signed by the then Prime Minister Ana Brnabić - that the starting salary of teachers with the seventh degree of professional education be equal to the average national salary.
What did the teachers decide?
Negotiations continue, and new problems have appeared in schools.
"Whether we will start on January 20 with a complete suspension of work, with 30-minute classes, or whether we will start holding classes normally, depends a lot on the Government of Serbia itself and their readiness to resolve the situation," says Marjanović from the Union of Educators' Union.
This union has a large membership - about 28.000 teachers and other staff, and Marjanović adds that the state has forcibly interrupted the school year, which is another problem.
"We insist that the councils take place and end properly with the previous semester," he says. "If the pressures in schools also stop, we will see that as a breakthrough."
However, the main requirement for educators is to match the salary with the national average, and the president of the union of educators says that the Government of Serbia has not yet fulfilled this requirement.
"Based on last week's offer, teachers will be closer to the republican average in salary by a few thousand in January, but already in February, the difference will be greater." March will be better again, and in April we will fall again," he adds. "That is not acceptable to us, a different solution must be adopted."
Katarina Šćepanović Ostojić from the Forum of Belgrade High Schools says that many unions did not openly survey their membership after the proposal of the Government of Serbia to increase wages on January 9.
"I think teachers are unhappy and I see it among my colleagues," she says. "I hope that the decision will be transparent, that is, that the enlightened members of the union will have the opportunity to clearly say what they think, and not that the union will decide without them."
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