{"id":581723,"date":"2023-02-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/"},"modified":"2023-02-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T00:00:00","slug":"teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries","status":"publish","type":"blackboard","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers aren\u2019t happy with their shrinking salaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>Private school teachers are feeling the impact of inflation and the EGP devaluation<\/span>: <\/span>Over the past year, salaries for teachers at private schools in Egypt have been coming under increasing strain from the rising cost of living and the EGP devaluation, leaving schools scrambling to find ways to keep salaries in step with inflation and teachers facing shrinking real wages. For international schools that pay their teachers\u2019 salaries in a combination of local and foreign currency, salary terms are especially contentious and could lead foreign teachers to exit international schools, our sources suggest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Teachers at international schools are paid under a variety of arrangements \u2014 but most depend on foreign currency: <\/span>At many international schools, foreign teachers have their salaries set in foreign currency, with a portion paid out in FX and the rest in EGP equivalent. For teachers hired locally, many get paid entirely in the EGP equivalent to their foreign currency-based salaries, which means schools need to be paying more to ensure that teachers\u2019 real wages aren\u2019t declining. <\/span><\/p>\n

Contracts signed last year still stand: <\/span>\u201cThis year we are engaged in active contracts; there\u2019s nothing that we can change. We\u2019re honoring contracts signed with any teacher at any of our five schools currently and paying them in the agreed upon foreign currency,\u201d Eduhive CEO Karim Mostafa tells us. Some schools, like El Alsson, which set numerical values for the local currency portion of their salaries, rather than paying the EGP equivalent of USD denominated salaries, are under a little less pressure. \u201cI never changed my <\/span>contracts<\/span>. From day 1 we pay 25% in foreign currency and 75% in local currency,\u201d El Alsson Executive Director Karim Rogers tells us. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the economic landscape has changed, even if contract terms haven\u2019t: <\/span>Most teachers\u2019 active contracts were signed before the start of the school year and ahead of the most recent EGP slide that led the exchange rate to surpass EGP 30 \/ USD 1. \u201cCurrent contracts were signed back when the USD was at EGP 15.75. At the time we had set a ceiling of EGP 18 and a floor of EGP 14 to accommodate for future currency changes,\u201d Mostafa tells us. This flexibility, however, has not been sufficient to keep up with the current exchange rate.<\/span><\/p>\n

These conditions are putting teachers under strain:<\/span> The majority of active contracts were signed under the pre-<\/span>October devaluation<\/a><\/span> exchange rate, but in a bid to reduce their expenses many schools have capped the maximum exchange rate they are willing to pay teachers, our sources tell us. \u201cA lot of schools do this at different levels. Some capped it last month, some did it a few months before then. But the problem is that it's below the market rate of the USD so [as a teacher] you\u2019re getting less than you should be,\u201d <\/span>a teacher at a private school <\/span>who requested to remain anonymous tells us. Teachers are also facing difficulty exchanging their EGP for foreign currency they need to transfer abroad, Rogers explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s only so much that school administrators can do to raise wages:<\/span> \u201cTeacher salaries account for about 65% of most schools\u2019 costs,\u201d CIRA Education CEO Mohammed El Kalla tells us. Salaries need to go up by about 25-30% to sufficiently cover rising inflation but tuition increases are <\/span>capped at 7% annually<\/a><\/span>, meaning schools have limited room to meet these demands, El Kalla explains. For foreign teachers, salaries would have to increase by 100% in order for them to remain steady, El Kalla says. <\/span><\/p>\n

For now, schools are absorbing some of these increases.<\/span> \u201cThe average increase in salaries we\u2019re seeing this year is 10-12% and schools are bearing the bill for it,\u201d El Kalla tells us. Without being able to raise tuition, schools can only roll out salary increases to teachers over multiple years. For larger school operators with multiple branches, \u201cthey have the size and scale to be able to absorb more because of economies of scale but for single-school operators it's becoming a nightmare,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

For international teachers, Egypt is becoming a less attractive destination to work: <\/span>\u201cWhen people research Egypt they can clearly see an issue. They\u2019re worried about taking their wage in EGP,\u201d Rogers says. Foreign teachers are also increasingly concerned about their ability to repatriate their income in FX once they leave the country, El Kalla tells us. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some schools are reconsidering the demographic makeup of their teaching staff in response. <\/span>As<\/span> <\/span>foreign teachers become increasingly more expensive to keep on payroll, international schools might instead opt for local teachers to replace them in the upcoming academic year. \u201cInternational schools will have major concerns about whether they\u2019ll be able to continue paying international teachers,\u201d El Kalla tells us. As a cost cutting measure, we\u2019re likely going to see \u201cmore local hiring take place this year across schools,\u201d Rogers says.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that could open the door to a whole new set of problems: <\/span>While there are many qualified Egyptian teachers that can take on these roles, fewer foreign teachers could pose some problems for international schools, according to several sources we\u2019ve spoken to. One of the key reasons international schools opt for foreign teachers is because international certification requirements obligate them to hire a certain number of foreign teachers every year \u2014 failing to do so could put these schools\u2019 certifications in jeopardy, El Kalla explains. Another reason is because of a perception that foreign teachers have expertise in areas that locally hired teachers might lack, according to several sources we\u2019ve spoken to. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even with local hires stepping in, there are some concerns about quality:<\/span> \u201cHiring and training locals to provide the same service takes time; it doesn\u2019t happen overnight,\u201d El Kalla tells us. But even with more local hires, concerns about salaries not keeping pace with inflation throughout the current academic year remains a major sticking point. \u201cYou can't pay less and expect the same return from your teachers \u2026 it's inevitable that you have teachers who are holding grudges or who are not going to give it their all in other areas of their job,\u201d our anonymous source tells us. <\/span><\/p>\n

Moving forward, schools are looking at some stopgap measures: <\/span>\u201cWe can reduce margins, while parents pay a little more and the Education Ministry leaves us with a little more leeway on the fees they collect from us so that we can all make it through,\u201d Mostafa says. Meanwhile, El Kalla thinks it would be helpful for the Education Ministry \u201cto grant schools a one-year exception to the 7% cap on tuition specifically to raise teacher salaries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Your top education stories for the week<\/span>:<\/span> <\/span>Columbia University topped the Financial Times\u2019 <\/span>Global MBA Ranking<\/a><\/span> f<\/span>or the first <\/span>time since it was first published in 1999, after the paper tweaked its methodology. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For international schools salary terms are especially contentious and could lead foreign teachers to exit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":581724,"template":"","categories":[7211],"tags":[7095,402,73,170,908,179,72,182,172,909,619],"class_list":["post-581723","blackboard","type-blackboard","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blackboard","tag-blackboard","tag-cira-education","tag-education","tag-eduhive","tag-el-alsson","tag-enterprise-blackboard","tag-enterpriseam","tag-inflation","tag-karim-mostafa","tag-karim-rogers","tag-mohamed-el-kalla","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"c8ed6a11-5515-48cd-b9fc-8837ad313209","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"2","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2021\/9\/1600-teacher.jpg","photo_position":"below","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"","related_issue":[581693],"teaser":"For international schools salary terms are especially contentious and could lead foreign teachers to exit","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2023\/2\/.cb2ac1d0-0202-4a6b-862b-6f32e7124199.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nTeachers aren\u2019t happy with their shrinking salaries - EnterpriseAM Egypt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teachers aren\u2019t happy with their shrinking salaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For international schools salary terms are especially contentious and could lead foreign teachers to exit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EnterpriseAM Egypt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2021\/9\/1600-teacher.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/\",\"name\":\"Teachers aren\u2019t happy with their shrinking salaries - EnterpriseAM Egypt\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2021\/9\/1600-teacher.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-20T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2021\/9\/1600-teacher.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2021\/9\/1600-teacher.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blackboard\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Teachers aren\u2019t happy with their shrinking salaries\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/\",\"name\":\"EnterpriseAM\",\"description\":\"The State of the Nation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization\",\"name\":\"EnterpriseAM\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/240894.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/240894.svg\",\"caption\":\"EnterpriseAM\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teachers aren\u2019t happy with their shrinking salaries - EnterpriseAM Egypt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teachers aren\u2019t happy with their shrinking salaries","og_description":"For international schools salary terms are especially contentious and could lead foreign teachers to exit","og_url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/","og_site_name":"EnterpriseAM Egypt","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2021\/9\/1600-teacher.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/","name":"Teachers aren\u2019t happy with their shrinking salaries - EnterpriseAM Egypt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2021\/9\/1600-teacher.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","datePublished":"2023-02-20T00:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2021\/9\/1600-teacher.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2021\/9\/1600-teacher.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/teachers-arent-happy-with-their-shrinking-salaries\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blackboard","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Teachers aren\u2019t happy with their shrinking salaries"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/","name":"EnterpriseAM","description":"The State of the Nation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization","name":"EnterpriseAM","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/240894.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/240894.svg","caption":"EnterpriseAM"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blackboard\/581723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blackboard"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blackboard"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blackboard\/581723\/revisions"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue\/581693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}