In April 2011, the Government noted the need to increase the average teachers' salary (See Transcript No 11 of the Government meeting dated 4 April 2011).

Since September 2011, the Russian Federation has been implementing a programme to update the region’s secondary education systems.

In 2011-2013, the programme is to receive a total of 120 billion roubles’ worth of federal budget allocations. The breakdown of this funding is as follows:

2011: 20 billion roubles

2012: 60 billion roubles

2013: 40 billion roubles

Under the programme, the Russian regions are to raise the average teacher’s salary by the fourth quarter of 2012 to the average regional economic sector wage as recorded in 2011.

In all, 82 Russian regions attained this target in late 2012.

Presidential Decree No 597 On Measures to Implement the State Social/Welfare Policy dated 7 May 2012 states expressly that the average teacher's salary in secondary schools in 2012 shall total the average regional wages.

Consequently, the wages of other professionals in education, including instructors, tutors, special educational needs teachers, speech therapists and others, also had to be raised.

Wage increase levels have also changed. In the past, they were raised to match the average economic sector wage for the previous year. And they were raised to match average regional wage over the same period in line with Presidential Decree No 597 dated 7 May 2012.

The Ministry of Education and Science (Dmitry Livanov) reports that teachers’ wages have increased in every Russian region.

In December 2012, the average wage of teachers at secondary education institutions was 31,200 roubles or almost double January 2012’s average (16,400 roubles), and 27% more than the average wage in November 2012 (24,500 roubles).

In December 2012, teachers’ wages in ten Russian regions exceeded November 2012 wages by over 50%.

As of 11 February 2012, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) lacked data on the average economic sector wage for 2012, including December 2012. Rosstat will publish this official data in the second quarter of 2013.

Twenty-one regions fulfilled their obligations to raise teachers’ wages in December 2012:

The Tyumen Region, 140%

The Republic of Bashkortostan, 35%

The Kursk Region, 29%

The Republic of Mordovia, 17%

Moscow, 17%

The Tambov Region, 16%

The Rostov Region, 15%

The Vladimir Region, 13%

The Lipetsk Region, 13%

The Chukotka Autonomous Area, 12%

The Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Yugra, 10%

The Perm Territory, 9%

The Ulyanovsk Region, 6%

The Udmurtian Republic, 6%

The Oryol Region, 5%

The Kaluga Region, 3%

The Omsk Region, 2%

The Moscow Region, 1%

The Republic of Adygea, 1%

The Tver Region, 0%

The Novosibirsk Region, 0%

Moreover, the average teacher's salary in three regions reached the average regional level at the end of the fourth quarter:

The Leningrad Region, 2%

The Murmansk Region, 5%

The Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, 10%)

Teachers’ salary increases in Russia’s regions go hand in hand with the introduction of organizational and economic mechanisms making it possible to manage the system of secondary education, to increase the independence of educational institutions and to involve public bodies, such as oversight boards, corporate boards, etc., in the management process. The system for assessing the performance of teachers also continues to develop.