The pariahs of the education sector: Private school and tutoring center teachers

The salary increases for civil servants were announced recently. Accordingly, a newly hired single teacher will receive, including union dues, 35,414 TL in salary. Considering the current economic situation, is this increase sufficient? Certainly not. In an environment with such high inflation where prices for everything are rising at any moment, teachers and other civil servants should undoubtedly have received much higher raises. While this is the case, the economic situation of teachers in the private education sector is unfortunately much worse.

In the majority of private schools and tutoring centers, teacher salaries hover around the minimum wage. Moreover, teachers do not receive this salary for 15 teaching hours like public school teachers. There are many teachers who teach 35-40 hours a week and earn only in the 20,000-25,000 TL range, and even that is an optimistic figure. I am sure some of my teacher colleagues reading this will say they do not even earn that much. In short, the salary gap between teachers working in the public sector and those in private schools is widening day by day. While trying to be useful to students under heavy economic conditions, private sector teachers are also trying to live on incomes at the hunger threshold. The situation is even worse for tutoring center teachers because, in addition to working for low wages, this group of teachers does not receive a salary during the summer months. As a result, private sector teachers are trying to perform their duties in a hopeless and unhappy state. What can be expected from the education provided by teachers in this situation?

Steps must be taken urgently to improve the salaries of teachers in this group. The Ministry of National Education (MEB) should reinstate the rule it previously implemented:  'A private school teacher cannot receive a lower salary than a public school teacher.' Deterrent penalties must be imposed through inspections for violations regarding teachers' personal rights, especially in tutoring centers. Private educational institutions should have a portion of their teachers' insurance costs covered, ensuring the difference is reflected in the teachers' salaries. At this point, the most important duty for parents is to inquire about the salaries of the teachers at the educational institutions where they send their children. They should know that a healthy education is not possible in a school where teachers receive low wages or, in some cases, go months without pay. Furthermore, private sector teachers must unionize and make their voices heard much more loudly. Otherwise, in this system that has practically turned into a form of slavery, each of them will eventually become unable to practice their profession at all. Teaching is an honorable profession. In the hope of seeing days when private sector teachers, who are currently heavily oppressed economically, receive the wages they deserve, so that our professional dignity is not tarnished...