About 36,000 MOE teachers, allied educators to get pay rise of 2% to 9% from Oct 1

SINGAPORE – About 36,000 educators will receive a 2 per cent to 9 per cent increase in their monthly salaries from October, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) on March 16.

About 33,000 education officers, 1,700 allied educators and 1,100 MOE kindergarten educators will receive the salary adjustments on Oct 1.

The move is to ensure that their overall salary packages remain competitive and for the teaching service to continue attracting and retaining good educators, said MOE.

“Teachers are the core of our education system. Beyond the salary adjustments, MOE will continue to provide opportunities for our officers to learn and develop throughout the course of their career,” said the ministry.

The salaries of education officers, allied educators and MOE kindergarten educators were last reviewed in 2022.

Announcing the pay rise on social media on March 16, Education Minister Desmond Lee said his ministry regularly reviews educator salaries to ensure they remain competitive.

“Our educators are the heart of our education system. Day in and day out, they go above and beyond to nurture our students and support their learning journey,” he said. “To all our educators: Thank you for your service.”

Besides salary reviews, educators will continue to receive support for their professional growth through learning and development opportunities, Mr Lee added.

“As you continue on this important mission, know that we will continue to listen and do more to support you.”

In February, the Government said 22,000 civil servants will get a pay rise of between 2 per cent and 9 per cent from Aug 1.

Mr Darryl David, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, said the salary review for educators was timely, given the current economic climate defined by cost-of-living pressures.

“The current increment is a necessary, supportive gesture for teachers that aligns realistically with market inflation,” he added.

However, salaries are only one part of reviewing teachers’ compensation and benefits, and a holistic view has to be taken, said Mr David, a former educator.

“In teaching, ‘benefits’ such as leave are often structurally tied to school holidays. Yet, the reality remains that these breaks are often used to prepare for lessons or complete administrative tasks,” he said, adding that factors like working hours and the volume of workload should be looked into as well.

Beyond broad adjustments, Mr David said a differentiated approach to compensation would also benefit teachers, noting that market dynamics for, say, an allied educator may differ from those of a kindergarten teacher.

By benchmarking each group separately, MOE can ensure that salary packages are not just fair in isolation but remain competitive against their specific private-sector alternatives, he added.

Singapore Teachers’ Union (STU) general secretary Mike Thiruman said the union welcomed the salary adjustment, given that market pay levels have shifted significantly since the last revision in 2022.

While the four-year cadence for substantive review of salaries was reasonable, Mr Thiruman said that more frequent, smaller “calibrations” might better prevent wide gaps from forming between teacher pay and comparable private-sector roles.

He echoed Mr David’s sentiment of looking at compensation holistically.

“The increases will help with immediate retention pressures and recruitment competitiveness, but won’t by themselves resolve long-term career attractiveness unless accompanied by improvements in career progression and workload management,” he said.

STU will work with MOE to publish timelines and measurable targets for workload reduction together with future pay reviews, he added.

In a Facebook post, STU said it has long called for a comprehensive review of teacher pay, and that the union looked forward to working with MOE to translate the latest review into “meaningful, lasting improvements for educators and learners”.