Teachers in Romania enjoy relatively high salaries compared to their colleagues from other member and partners. However, the tensions in the system are increasing, and the unions warn on a possible general strike.
Teachers earn 14% more than other employees with higher studies photo archive
The teachers in the primary education in Romania have higher salaries than other employees with higher education, according to the “Education at Glance 2025” report (“Brief Education”) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
However, dissatisfaction with working conditions and administrative loads increase alarmingly.
The unions warn that tensions could degenerate into a general strike, against the background of austerity measures, brought by Law 141/2025.
What salaries do teachers in Romania have
The OECD data show that teachers in primary education in Romania earn, on average, 14% more than other workers with higher education. In contrast, teachers in most OECD countries earn on average 17-19% less than their colleagues, graduates of higher education. According to the salary grids for 2024:
– a debutant teacher receives approximately 6.080 lei gross/monththe equivalent of 3,500–3,600 lei net,
– a teacher with teaching degree wins
7,500 gross lei/month
(5,000–5,100 lei net)
– a teacher with teaching grade I and over 25 years of age can reach 10,232 gross lei/month
(6,800–6,900 net lei).
Additional compensation for teachers
OECD stresses that Romanian teachers benefit from a series of compensations that can supplement the basic income.
These include the payment for overtime over the norm, participating in mentoring programs for new teachers, carrying out special tasks or teaching in classes with students with special needs or in disadvantaged, distant or high costs. These mechanisms, present in other OECD countries, are more consistent in Romania, covering a wider range of specific situations.
Fewer hours of teaching, more holidays
The students in Romania travel about 6,000 compulsory training between the mayor and the gymnasium, with 1,600 hours less than the OECD average.
At the primary level, a student has 540 hours per year, compared to 804 hours on average in OECD, and at the gymnasium 834 hours annually, compared to 909 hours international average. The Romanian school holidays are among the longest in the OECD, 16.6 weeks annually at the mayor, compared to 13.5 weeks on average.
Context OECD: Low investments in education
In parallel, the OECD report shows that Romania spends USD 6,069 from the primary level to the non-country post-secondary (~ 33,000 lei), below the OECD average of over 13,000 USD. At the tertiary level, the government expenses are $ 10,329/student (~ 56,000 lei), compared to the OECD average of $ 15,102.
As a percentage of GDP, investments in education in Romania are 2.5%, below the OECD average of 4.7%. In 2022, education represented 6.3% of public expenses, decreasing from 6.6% in 2015. It shows that, although teachers earn well in relative terms, the education system is facing insufficient financing, which can affect the infrastructure, teaching and support for teachers.
Education tensions and union warning
The educational system in Romania is currently in a turning point. The first day of school, September 8, 2025, was marked by a huge protest in Bucharest, attended by tens of thousands of teachers, students and students from all over the country.
Although union leaders have stated as clearly as possible that “they do not protest for salaries”, they talked about several measures in Law 141/2025 that negatively affect the working conditions of the teachers, among which:
- Increasing the didactic norm: The didactic norm for all the teachers in Romania has increased since September 1, 2025, for the first time in the last 30 years. This measure was implemented without a prior analysis of the impact on the quality of education and without the proper consultation of the unions.
- School merging: The school merger were made according to the rules established by the Ministry of Education until August 9, one month before the first day of school. Trade unionists believe that too much increase in the number of children in classes will affect the quality of education.
The unions warn that, if the authorities do not listen to them, a general teacher strike becomes more likely, with a direct impact on the students and the educational process.
