Ministry Sets Target for Teacher Pay to Reach 170% of Base Salary Rate by 2028

Lithuania’s Education, Science and Sport Ministry has set a clear target for teacher pay: by the end of 2028, state budget funding calculated for a teacher’s position should equal at least 170% of the official base salary rate.

The goal appears in the implementation plan for the 21st Government’s programme, registered on Tuesday. The plan also seeks to ensure that annual state funding for teachers, student support specialists, education managers, researchers, lecturers and non-academic staff grows at least 5% faster than the forecast rise in Lithuania’s average wage the following year.

Since January, the figure for teachers has stood at 152.9%. The ministry said last November that it had found an additional 100 million euros to increase teachers’ salaries. Pay rose by 8.41% from Jan. 1, including a 0.71% increase in the official base salary rate.

The timing of the increase had previously been disputed. The ministry had agreed with the Lithuanian Education and Science Trade Union to raise wages from September 2026 rather than January, provided the increase reached 11.5%. That proposal did not suit the Lithuanian Education Workers’ Trade Union, led by Andrius Navickas.

The government’s implementation plan is its main document for setting concrete steps in areas considered important to the state and society. It lays out priorities and deadlines for the cabinet’s planned actions and targets.

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Achieve that state budget funding for teachers’ salaries calculated for a teacher’s position amounts to no less than 170% of the official base salary rate at the end of 2028, and ensure that state budget funding for the salaries of teachers, student support specialists, managers of educational institutions, researchers at state science and study institutions, other researchers, lecturers and non-academic staff grows each year by at least 5% faster than the forecast increase in the country’s average wage the following year.