Make educator salary announcements together, not unilaterally: Denise Phua

SINGAPORE - The recent August announcement of the increase in teachers' salaries caused "quite a bit of ripple" among the special education and people sectors, said Ms Denise Phua (Jalan Besar GRC) in Parliament on Wednesday.

She said: "Would the Ministry of Education consider that when they make announcements of such nature, especially in terms of compensation, that they not be announced unilaterally, that they mention the rest of the sector who are also serving children, the young people and the older people in education?"

In August, the ministry announced that about 35,000 teachers would get a pay hike of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent from Oct 1 as part of efforts to attract and retain talent. The pay increase also applies to about 1,600 allied educators and 800 pre-school teachers in Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergartens.

In response to Ms Phua, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said the reason that announcements are not made together is because the work is done in stages.

He said: "But every time we announce a change in one particular profession, we will certainly take into account the other professions to make sure that the relativities and the benchmarks are correct, both within the sector and also beyond the sector with other professions."

The exchange came after Mr Chan responded to Ms Phua's question on when and how salary scale and benefit reviews are conducted and then recommended to be implemented for educators from mainstream schools, pre-schools and special education schools, as well as other staff such as education psychologists, job coach therapists and school leaders serving in these education institutions.

In his reply, Mr Chan said the ministry periodically reviews the salaries of officers in MOE schemes of service, in consultation with the Public Service Division, to ensure overall salary packages remain market-competitive.

Salary adjustments take into consideration the size of the salary gaps compared with market benchmarks, and keep in line with the principle that civil service salaries should keep pace with but not lead the market, he said.

He added that the Early Childhood Development Agency is separately conducting a salary review for early childhood educators in government-supported pre-schools that is expected to be completed by end-2022.

The agency will work with government-supported operators to implement the changes from 2023.

Mr Chan noted that while special education schools receive full funding, the social service agencies that run them retain substantial autonomy in human resource practices, including how they compensate their employees.

He added that salaries for these employees were reviewed together in 2018 and 2020, and that the ministry would continue to work with social service agencies to ensure good career progression and update salary guidelines.