Teachers will get a second raise in a year: how much will educators earn

Salaries of Ukrainian educators from 1 September will rise by 20%. This will be the second salary increase for teachers within 2026 year. This is reported by “Glavkom” citing Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky.

During the educational conference “August-2026,” the head of government outlined the state’s main priorities in education for the new academic year. One of the key directions he named is support for teachers and students.

According to Koretsky, the teaching profession must be adequately paid and remain competitive, especially for young specialists. From 1 January 2026 of the year salaries of pedagogical workers have already increased by 30%. The second stage is planned for 1 September — payments will rise by another 20%.

After the September raise, a young teacher will be able to earn approximately from 12,8 thousand to 17,7 thousand UAH take-home pay, and an experienced educator—from 16,9 thousand to 28,5 thousand UAH per month.

“Undoubtedly, this is only the beginning, and we need to bring salaries up to European level through gradual and ongoing actions,” emphasized Koretsky.

In addition, authorities plan to increase stipends for college and university students. Another priority of the new academic year is the safety of the educational process. Ukraine will continue building underground schools, the number of which by year’s end should reach about 200. This year, 1 billion UAH was allocated for equipping shelters in kindergartens. At the same time, educational institutions are preparing for the winter season.

Also, from 1 September, nearly 3 million Ukrainian schoolchildren are set to receive free meals. This refers to the continuation of the school meal reform initiated at the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska.

Among other directions, the government identified updates to vocational education, workshops, and laboratories. The goal of the changes is to give young people practical skills that meet current labor market needs.

As a reminder, preparing a first grader for school in 2026 year could cost parents at least 10 thousand UAH. For a more complete set of supplies, the amount could exceed 15 thousand UAH.

The largest expense items were clothing, footwear, a backpack, and school accessories. In particular, prices for backpacks started at 400 UAH and reached 4200 UAH, while ready-made sets with a backpack, pencil case, and bag for change of footwear cost about 3600–5000 UAH.

Separately, parents needed to purchase stationery and art supplies: notebooks, pens, pencils, paints, clay, colored paper, and other tools.

The actual cost of preparation depended on the number of items required, manufacturers, and whether the child already had supplies from the previous year.