Educators who moved to Ida-Viru County, a primarily Russian speaking region, to teach in the Estonian language were offered extra money to do so by the government

The first bonus will be paid late as data processing has taken longer than expected, Tuesday's "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

"Unfortunately, only a quarter of the applications were correct. I apologize to them [educators], as we are waiting for other applicants' documents. At the moment, three municipalities and two state schools are missing applications, which are being completed," explained Anne Endjärv, chief specialist at the Ministry of Education.

The same problem existed in Ida-Viru County at the end of 2023, when the first data was gathered.

Jõhvi's education advisor Maria Laanemäe understands both the ministry, which has to check the data, and the teachers, who want to see their salary in their bank account as soon as possible.

"Everyone who should get the money will get the money, but retroactively. I hope and believe that this will be done in March," she said.

However, some teachers have already received their higher salary. This has been the case in state schools, as well as those in Alutagus municipality, which is the only municipality of the eight in Ida-Viru County to pay teachers extra money.

"After all, people have done their job and all the requirements we have checked have been met. And they get paid accordingly," said Kairi Hõbemeri, from Alutagus Municipality.

Those involved said the process would have been easier if Estonia had one reliable education information system. The current national register EHIS (Eesti Hariduse Infosüsteem) is not.

"This not a new problem, it has been going on for years, that there are some things that need to change and be changed," Hõbemeri said.

Endjärv said: "EHIS undoubtedly has its shortcomings and documents are not currently uploaded to EHIS. In this sense, it should be a very large capacity document management system."

The salary supplement totals €541 for kindergarten teachers and €902 per month for a teacher and support specialist of a general education and vocational training institution. 

In total, more than 1,300 education workers in Ida-Viru County will receive a bonus.

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