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Lukashenka warns against freezing pay of school teachers, health workers

 

Alyaksandr Lukashenka warned on Friday against freezing the pay of school teachers and health workers.

Speaking at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, the Belarusian leader noted a gap in the pay of people employed by economic entities and those working in the government-funded sector, said the government's news agency BelTA.

Mr. Lukashenka suggested that the pay of employees of government-funded organizations should be increased from 80 to 90 percent of what economic entities' employees earned. "We should not carry out modernization by checking an increase in the pay of teachers and health workers," he was quoted as saying.

Mr. Lukashenka emphasized the importance of including more hands-on training in education programs. "A graduate should not need to be trained for one, two or three more years after taking a job in the industrial sector," he explained.

Mr. Lukashenka criticized recent remarks by Deputy Prime Minister Anatol Tozik. "Instead of solving problems in spheres from sports to healthcare, you attempt to make nice and pompous statements in the media, sometimes out of place. And you say something that stirs the entire country," he told Mr. Tozik. // BelaPAN