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Teacher shortages grow worrisome in Poland and Hungary

Published:Saturday | September 3, 2022 | 6:32 PM
An empty classroom at the Limanowski High School in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, September 1, 2022. The public schools in Poland are facing a shortage of teachers, a problem that is growing increasingly serious each year as people leave the profession over low wages and policies of a government that they fear does not value them. A teachers union and teachers say the situation threatens the education of the country's youth, though the government insists that they are exaggerating the scale of the problem. (AP Photo/Michal Dyjuk)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ewa Jaworska has been a teacher since 2008 and loves working with young people.

But the low pay is leaving her demoralised.

She even has to buy her own teaching materials some times and is disheartened by the government using schools to promote conservative ideas which she sees as backward.

Like many other Polish teachers she is considering a career change.

“I keep hoping that the situation might still change,” said the 44-year-old, who teaches in a Warsaw high school.

“But unfortunately it is changing for the worse, so only time will tell if this year will be my last.”

Problems are mounting in schools in Poland, with a teacher shortage growing worse and many educators and parents fearing that the educational system is being used to indoctrinate young people into the ruling party's conservative and nationalistic vision.

It's very much the same in Hungary.

Black-clad teachers in Budapest carried black umbrellas to protest stagnant wages and heavy workloads on the first day of school Thursday. Teachers' union PSZ said young teachers earn a “humiliating” monthly after-tax salary of just 500 euros that has prompted many to walk away.

Thousands of people marched in solidarity with teachers on Friday in Budapest, voicing the view that the teachers' low compensation is linked to the authoritarian direction of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government.

“Free country, free education!” they shouted,

Teacher shortages could hardly come at a worse time, with both countries trying to integrate Ukrainian refugees. It's particularly challenging for Poland, where hundreds of thousands of school-aged Ukrainian refugees now live.

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