MOE Bumps Salaries Of Teachers By Up To 10%, Hopes To Attract & Retain Good Educators

MOE To Raise Salaries For Teachers By 5% To 10% From 1 Oct

From 1 Oct this year, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will be increasing the monthly salaries of teachers by 5% to 10%.

The move is part of an effort by MOE to retain educators in the workforce. By making salary packages more competitive, the ministry hopes to attract more teachers into the industry.

In addition, the ministry will enhance a 30-year retention plan and continue to offer educators opportunities to learn and develop throughout their careers.

Teachers’ salaries to increase by up to 10%

On Tuesday (16 Aug), the ministry announced its plans to increase the salaries for the following groups of MOE staff by 5% to 10%:

• Education Officers (EOs)
• Allied Educators (AEDs)
• MOE Kindergarten Educators (MKEs)

The pay rise will take effect from 1 Oct.

Explaining the adjustment in a press release, MOE stated,

This is to ensure that their overall salary packages remain competitive, and so that MOE can continue to attract and retain good educators.

Currently, around 35,000 EOs, 1,600 AEDs, and 800 MKEs stand to benefit from the pay increase.

The last salary review for EOs and AEDs took place in 2015. The MKE scheme was only introduced in 2019.

New way to recognise contributions of good-performing teachers

In addition, MOE is introducing a new General Education Officer (GEO) 5A substantive grade.

The new grade is a way of giving better recognition to the contributions of good-performing teachers without a Key Personnel (KP) appointment.

For now, only educators with KP appointments, such as Subject Heads or Senior Teachers, can progress to the Senior Education Officer (SEO) grades. This ranks above the GEO grade.

The new grade means that from 2023, educators not holding a KP appointment with the maximum salary of those under a GEO 5 substantive grade can progress to GEO 5A if they receive a promotion.

As a result, they can benefit from a higher salary ceiling, MOE explained.

Enhancement of 30-year retention plan

MOE will also be enhancing the CONNECT Plan, a 30-year retention plan for EOs.

As part of the plan, the ministry will set aside a flat rate quantum that ranges from S$3,200 to S$8,320 for officers each year, depending on their length of employment.

The ministry will give payouts every three to five years consisting of a proportion of the money accumulated.

From next year onwards, the CONNECT Plan will go through an overall enhancement of about 20%.

“The annual deposit quantum and payout ratio will be raised to better support officers in the earlier years of their career,” said MOE.

Recognising “the core of our education system”

Calling teachers “the core of our education system”, MOE declared that they will continue to give educators opportunities to “learn and develop throughout the course of their career”.

“This includes providing in-service courses to help teachers deepen their content mastery and pedagogy, as well as exposing teachers to diverse experiences outside the classroom through external work attachments.”

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Featured image adapted from the Ministry of Education on Facebook.