How low teacher salaries impact education in Venezuela

The Training of Trade Union Leaders (Fordisi) from Venezuela said on Sunday that the country’s teachers are plunged into a “hopeless lethargy” two weeks before the end of school holidays, due to “terrible working conditions” that include, he said, low salaries.

“Two weeks before the end of the school holidays, teachers and all workers in the education sector find themselves plunged into a hopeless lethargy due to the implications of returning to school, a product of the sustained humanitarian crisis over the last few years.”. This was stated by Fordisi in a bulletin published in X.

He added that there are currently many teachers who “resist a system that does not respect democratic values, laws and the Constitution.”

“Teachers in Venezuela receive a salary that does not exceed 15 dollars, this situation has a negative impact on the student population, since due to precarious salaries, teachers cannot attend classes every day and there is even a lack of teachers in learning areas such as, for example, mathematics, physics,” he added.

Fordisi said that this situation has also led to a “contingency schedule,” known as mosaic, “reducing work days by two or three days a week.”

In July, the Observatory of Labor Conflicts and Trade Union Management of the Institute of Advanced Trade Union Studies (Inaesin) recorded 18 labor conflicts, centered on the demand for “decent wages,” “better working conditions” and against “workplace harassment.”

Inaesin specified that the highest percentage of claims were made by workers in the education sector, with 44.44% of the total for the month, followed by basic industry and media personnel, 11.1% each.