IMF wants to withdraw the Teacher's Bill that contributed in the 1990s

In addition, according to the International Monetary Fund (FMN), this Bill if it goes into effect may have enormous costs for the budget that compromises even investments in the future of education.

“... We would strongly advise that we not move forward with this bill in its current form”, said IMF representative in Kosovo Ruud Veremulen for KALLXO.com.

On Wednesday, the Government of Kosovo, under threat of strike by teachers, passed the Education Workers Bill in the 90th years.

The newspaper Life in Kosovo had provided this bill, which envisions special pensions for several categories of education workers in the 1990s, including teachers.

Under this bill, the beneficiaries of this particular status are teachers, professional collaborators, director and deputy director of the school, administrative staff, technical staff of schools, employed in higher education according to the Albanian education system, institutions, organs and other institutions that have been part of education of this period.

The previous pensions range from 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the teacher's basic salary for those who worked in the parallel system to five and, respectively, 10 years.

Ruud Veremulen, IMF resident representative to Kosovo, told Gazeta Life in Kosovo that the teacher's contribution at the time is very valuable.

However, the benefits envisioned by this law, according to him, are excessive if budgetary capacities are taken into account.

However, many teachers did so on voluntary grounds and were compensated for a unique fund for voluntary contributions, with many initially refusing to be paid entirely. Moreover, the benefits of anticipated pensions are very generous given the level of salaries in the 1990s and pension levels in Kosovo today”, Veremulen said.

“ ...For example, a teacher who worked in the parallel system for only one year will gain the right of a permanent monthly pension of more than 260 euros, which is 3.5 times higher than the basic session and 50 per cent higher than the average contributing pension (pensionist with more than 15 years of experience before 1999)”, he added.

He also considers that the real budgetary cost of this law will not be surprising from the start.

“...As many teachers retire, expenditures will increase and can easily exceed 1 per cent of GDP per year. At that point, the annual fiscal cost would be more than 10 times higher than what is publicly presented. And given income restrictions, this will come at the cost of much needed spending to improve education results ) which should be a higher political priority to address labour market skills shortages and reduce unemployment, health care and infrastructure”, he said.

The United Trade Union for Education, Science and Culture (SBASHK) was the biggest insistence on passing this law that began in 2013.

The Albanian Republic of Kosovo education workers' status bill from 1990/91 to 1998/99 has been carried in two leaderships of the Ministry of Education that tried to push for approval, while the only obstacle, according to officials, was to secure the budget line.

Ahmet Plana, a teacher of the time and unionist, had estimated that teachers deserve mixed treatment with other categories of war.

 And I need these teachers to be rewarded in a way especially to get to know each other in the '90s-99s, they've all been taken by political prisoners and war veterans, and why don't educators take them?

This point is being seen as problematic by the IMF, as according to them it could trigger a wave of compensation requirements that Kosovo budget simply does not bear.

Furthermore, generosity for a part of society would certainly trigger demands for future generous benefits for other teachers and other professions, further increasing its costs. For these reasons, we would strongly advise not to move forward with this bill in its current form”, Veremulen said.

What do the education workers of the '90s benefit from the Individual Status?

19 years after the war and a decade after Kosovo's declaration of independence, a category that contributed to keeping Albanian education alive at the time of occupation is waiting for legal recognition of that contribution.

By 1992, Kosovo Albanians were forced to find alternative forms of keeping the education system alive, since the Serbian administration did not allow keeping Albanian teaching in school facilities.

The beginnings of the initiative for establishing a special law that recognises merit status for workers in education at that time were in 2013, and since then this initiative has remained only a bill.

The bill envisions special pensions for several categories of education workers of the 1990s, including educators.

According to this special status beneficiary bill are teachers, professional collaborators, director and deputy school director, administrative staff, technical school staff, employed in higher education according to the Albanian education system, institutions, organs and other institutions that have been part of education of this period.

Ownerial pension beneficiaries, however, are divided into two categories.

All pension beneficiaries, who have served over 5 to 10 years during this period, entered the first category and compensated to many of the 75 per cent of the basic salary in elementary education in Kosovo.

The second category introduced those who have served between 1 and 5 years during this period and compensated for many of 65 percent of the basic salary in primary education.

According to the Bill, workers are also divided into categories of municipal and republican workers and homeowners who had given their homes to use as schools.

For the first two categories are also set forth to be free medical services, priority in healing abroad, a priority in placing homes in elderly people, and a priority in caring for family residences in case of separation of residences from central and municipal levels.

Meanwhile, the issue of home-school owners is expected to be adjusted to an act of sublaw.

What is the best solution for the IMF?

The reward through retirement is not considered a good idea from the IMF due to life character and continued budgetary implications.

Veremulen said a more fair compensation would be based on teachers' salaries at the time and on the distribution of costs in installments.

“In our view, the law should be re-dissigned to make fair treatment of teachers and taxpayers, providing a reasonable and long-term compensation that Kosovo can afford. The aging pension system is not the right instrument to compensate for these educational workers. Instead of providing a vital pension, compensation could be based on teachers' salaries at the time, adapted to the skills and compensation received, and paid in installments to distribute the expenses for certain budgets”, Veremulen said.

Investments for the Future or the Past?

One of the SBASK's continued demands has been the adoption of the above-mentioned Bill, while that demand became ultimatum for a strike warned in recent days.

The SBASK had held two strikes on two different working days to precede an indefinite-term strike unless this requirement is met.

They had ignored the ministers' explanations for their lack of budget and their demand for cancellation of the strike.

While after adopting this bill with a kind of haste from the Government of Kosovo, The IMF considers no fair cost mirror to be presented.

“Let me make one last but important point. When bills are presented to the public, the government and parliament, it is important to present a fair mirror of the related cost, as higher spending on some policies means less resources are available to other policy priorities. Presenting such a fiscal assessment is also a legal requirement. Without a realistic cost mirror, policy indicators are not visible”, Veremulen said.

Meanwhile, at the time this draft law has not yet been adopted by the Assembly, according to Veremulen, presents a fundamental question for government priorities.

In short, the selection facing Kosovo policymakers is this: do you want to look forward and invest in the future of Kosovo or look back and spend an ever-growing part of the budget on compensation for jobs that are largely voluntary and patriotic activities in the past?”, Veremulen concluded.