Salaries of teachers in Kyrgyzstan outpace wages of teachers in Uzbekistan

According to a local publication, Minister Kendirbaeva stated in an interview with Kyrgyz media that teachers' average salary is approximately 26,400 som, which, when calculated at the current exchange rate by the Central Bank, translates to over 3 million 952 thousand UZS.

The Minister noted that the highest salaries in Kyrgyzstan are earned by teachers working in mountainous and remote areas, as well as those with significant experience and high workloads.

Kendirbaeva recalled that 2022 marked the first time that the average salary of teachers in Kyrgyzstan matched the national average salary. "At that time, working in schools became attractive even for university professors," she said.

Additionally, she emphasized that teachers who successfully pass their certification will receive an extra 5,000 som (approximately 748,600 UZS) added to their monthly salary.

"Kyrgyz Teachers' Average Salary Surpasses That of Uzbek Counterparts"

Economist Otabek Bakirov pointed out that the average salary for teachers in Kyrgyzstan is higher than that of their Uzbek counterparts. He noted that the average monthly salary for school teachers in Uzbekistan stands at 3 million 484.7 thousand UZS.

Interestingly, the average salary for teachers in Kyrgyzstan is the same as the average salary for Kyrgyz citizens overall, indicating that those who choose teaching are not poorer than other citizens in Kyrgyzstan.

In contrast, teachers in Uzbekistan earn only a third of the average salary of the Uzbek population. Despite calls for improvement, the salaries of Uzbek teachers have continued to decline in recent years, Bakirov stated in his post.

He expressed that this situation should provoke serious consideration among decision-makers, reminding that Uzbekistan's GDP per capita ($2,700) is 37% higher than that of Kyrgyzstan ($1,970).

For reference, between January and July 2024, excluding small enterprises, the average nominal salary for an employee in Kyrgyzstan was 35,621 som (5 million 333.1 thousand UZS). By the end of the first quarter of the same year, Uzbekistan reported an average nominal salary of 4 million 551 thousand UZS.

It’s worth noting that during a recent event in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s Minister of Preschool and School Education, Hilola Umarova, mentioned that only 1% of the over 500,000 teachers in the republic earn a salary of 10 million UZS.

Previously, the Minister’s Deputy for Financial Issues, Temur Komilov, stated that the idea of all educators earning a thousand dollars a month is a utopia, revealing that raising one teacher's salary by 1 million UZS would require over 7 trillion UZS annually.