Teachers seek HK$5,000 pay rise

The Civil Service Bureau proposal to increase the starting salaries of new teachers by HK$5,000 this year has prompted demands for an equivalent pay rise by teachers who started working from 2000 to 2006.

The bureau plans to raise the starting salary of new teachers from HK$18,010 to HK$22,990 a month. This means they will earn the same salary as teachers with a certificate of education who started teaching in 2003. According to the plan, the starting salary of degree teachers without a certificate of education will be raised from HK$16,165 to HK$20,865.

About 8,000 teachers who took up posts between 2000 and 2006 will have their pay increased at least to the new starting salary. However, they feel this does not take into account their years of experience and feel they should be paid more than the new teachers.

Teachers with degrees, but without a certificate of education, who earn below HK$20,865 and those with degrees and certificates of education who earn less than HK$22,990 will be eligible for pay rises. Those teachers who are now being paid the proposed new starting salary will have a pay rise of about HK$1,000.

Tan Sin-pat, who began teaching secondary students English in 2003, was upset by the plan. 'We are happy that new teachers can get a pay rise, but it is unfair to those joining the profession between 2000 and 2006,' he said. 'They ignore my experience. We have undergone many challenges like education reforms, but our effort is not being [rewarded].'

Education Convergence chairman William Lee Siu-hok agreed that the government should raise the salaries of teachers who started between 2000 and 2006 by the same amount.