After months of delays caused by administrative blockages and negotiations with the European Commission, teachers will be awarded the teaching career bonus for the year 2025-2026. The teachers will receive 1,500 lei, but the conditions for using the money are stricter. At least 65% of the amount must be used for vocational training. Last year, the premium was not offered.
Education employees who receive the teaching career bonus in 2026
The estimated number of beneficiaries of the teaching career premium for the 2025-2026 school year is approximately 267,000, and the allocated budget exceeds 413 million lei, fully financed from European funds.
The measure explicitly targets teaching staff and auxiliary teaching staff, and the grant of money will be based on the list of active teaching staff in the school year in which the premium is granted. The non-teaching staff, who received 500 lei, will no longer benefit from the premium.
The new form of the ordinance comes after negotiations with representatives of the European Commission, who rejected the initial scheme, after “They emphasized the impossibility of financing the scheme as described”.
The teaching career premium is to be awarded starting from April 2026 and can be used until the end of the school year, i.e. August 31, 2026. The payment is made electronically, and the amount cannot be withdrawn in cash. The cards are delivered by Poșta Română to your home or directly to the school.
What can the money be spent on? The rules are stricter
Compared to previous editions, the rules for using the 2026 teaching career premium are considerably stricter.
According to the draft emergency ordinance made transparent by the Ministry of Investments and European Projects, at least 65% of the value of the premium, i.e. at least 975 lei, must be used for professional training courses. The rest of the amount can be spent exclusively on: the purchase of specialized books and other expenses necessary for the educational act, directly related to the didactic activity.
In addition, teachers will have to provide proof of spending the money.
“Within a maximum of 5 months from the date of using the amount related to the teaching career bonus for the purchase of professional training courses, the final beneficiary teaching staff and auxiliary teaching staff is obliged to upload the certificate certifying graduation/participation in the professional training course in the IT application developed by the Special Telecommunications Service”. writes in the draft emergency ordinance.
Until now, from the beginning of their teaching career, teachers could also buy IT equipment, and 30% of the money could be used freely, by declaration on their own responsibility.
This is the last year that teachers receive the bonus
One of the most important and controversial changes in the draft ordinance concerns the future of the program itself.
The normative act stipulates that the 2025-2026 school year is the last one for granting the didactic district premium, although the program should have extended until 2027 inclusive. The granting of the teaching career bonus was one of the measures that led to the end of the 2023 general strike.
