Teachers with more than 35 years of service and no more than five years left before reaching the standard retirement age are seriously considering early retirement. The pensioners who agreed to continue teaching, paid by the hour, were shocked, in turn, by the amounts collected.
Teachers take to the streets again, along with other professional categories PHOTO: Inquam Photos/O. Gane
Between 4,000 and 5,000 teachers could be on the streets on Wednesday, September 29, 2025, at the mega-protest announced by four union confederations that is scheduled to gather tens of thousands of protesters in front of the Government. The dissatisfaction of teachers is increasing day by day, since August, since they were the first professional category to pay tribute to austerity. Their teaching norm increased by two hours, with some having to go to even more schools to reach the new norm of 20 hours. Schools merged and the number of students/class increased. In the rural areas, where there were no longer available classes in the specialty, the tenured teachers were also assigned classes for other subjects, without anyone raising the question of how well prepared they are to teach classes from another curricular area as well.
However, the biggest shock was received by teachers paid exclusively by the hour. Most are retirees who have accepted to teach where schools have not found alternatives. Throughout the country, for subjects such as physics, chemistry, informatics, mathematics, plus technical subjects (for which industry specialists are also co-opted), the shortage of qualified teachers is major. In the Capital, the deficit also manifests itself in preschool and primary education, many of the positions being also covered by retired teachers. They are instead rewarded for this effort, after the method of calculation for hourly payment has changed, with a maximum of 32 lei/hour.
“In any field of activity overtime is better paid, with us it’s the other way around”, the teachers noted.
“It’s humbling”
In Olt county, the pedagogical profile exists within only one high school, a theoretical high school in Slatina. The teachers of pedagogy are not numerous either, so the high school called, to ensure the teaching of 15 of the pedagogy classes, a former head of the school, former deputy director, now retired. Professor Nicolae Sulger specified that the remuneration for the 15 hours per week was… 1,900 lei.
She teaches early childhood education classes, a relatively new specialization in the school, with the first batch of graduates last summer. Every hour must be prepared, it cannot afford to do otherwise, except that when paying by the hour the time required for this stage is not remunerated.
“It’s humiliating. If I had 20 hours – I have 15 – it would mean taking 3,000 lei. If I were the owner, 9,000 lei. As a full-time employee, I do the same work at the hourly rate,” said the teacher who trained many generations of educators and teachers throughout his teaching career. However, he agreed to continue teaching, even though he knew about the changes made at the end of the vacation.
In the same situation are other retired teachers who have accepted to teach classes in chemistry, physics, etc.. Some of the retired teachers paid by the hour are teachers with outstanding performances, with students awarded over the years in Olympiads and national and international competitions, who agree to continue to stay in the department for the sake of the students. They would gladly leave the place to young people, as they are often told, only that they teach subjects for which no one really comes.
“Other than statements, nothing concrete”
The rate for payment by the hour in education has sparked extensive discussions in recent weeks. The governors have also heard the information according to which the teachers who initially agreed to teach classes in this regime are beginning to reconsider their decision and are withdrawing. This is how the statements appeared that a reevaluation of the measure would follow.
“Apart from what some politicians have said, there is nothing concrete, there is no document to show that they will return“said the general secretary of the “Spiru Haret” Education Trade Union Federation and leader of the Olt Pre-University Education Trade Union, Ionel Barbu.
The union leader stated that there are already resignations from teachers in the hours taught under the payment regime, and the trend will increase. The shortage of qualified teachers, at least for the subjects that are currently in short supply, will deepen in the next school year, Barbu also said.
The very large difference between the rate for base rate hours (such as incumbents and skilled substitutes) and hourly paid hours derives from the change in reporting. If in the last school year the rate for hourly payment was calculated by relating the staffing salary to the number of hours in the teaching norm (in the last school year the teaching norm was 18 hours/week), from this autumn the hourly hours are paid by relating the basic salary to the weekly work norm (of 40 hours), hence the huge differences.
There are educators and teachers who stay in the educational unit from morning to afternoon (this is the case of educators in kindergartens with an extended schedule, or of teachers who also teach in the morning and afternoon instead) and who now have an income over 3,000 lei lower than last school year.
“There was very little difference between the base rate and the hourly rate, although it was erroneously said that more money was made on the hourly rate. Anyone can pick up a pencil and share,” Barbu also stated, explaining that when paying by the hour the incomes were a little lower, because certain rights were no longer taken into account, such as merit grading, for example.
Beyond the complaints, there are voices in the education system that appreciate that changing the method of calculating payment for hours taught under the hourly payment system could also have a beneficial effect. If they become unattractive to tenured teachers, the practice of keeping certain hours available to the school will diminish, which should translate into more hours/chairs/vacancies for tenure and replacement, and that would mean new teachers entering the system.
New retirements are being prepared
Recent statements by politicians will have other effects in education. Fearing changes to early retirement conditions, many teachers who have no more than five years to reach the standard retirement age are preparing their files for early retirement.
“Even the Prime Minister has stated that there will be a problem with early retirement, and I want to tell you that there are colleagues who are currently preparing their pension files for early retirement,” the leader Ionel Barbu also said. The teachers are considering taking this step because no clarifications have been made regarding a possible threshold. There are teachers who are between 35 and 40 years old and who, although they are not at the standard retirement age, no longer feel ready to go to work through more and more trials generated by new changes.
It should be noted that teachers who have reached 40 years of service can retire at the age limit, but with the reduction of the standard retirement age (a form of early retirement without penalty).
On the other hand, early retirement (which can currently be requested at an age no more than five years younger than the standard retirement age) is subject to a penalty that depends on the number of months you retire before the standard age and the contribution period completed (over or under the full).
