Once low-income urban teachers better paid than white collar workers

On the 20th Teachers' Day in China, which falls on Friday, people are amazed to find that teachers, once less paid than factory workers in cities, now enjoy much higher salaries and bonuses than many white collar workers in companies, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.

In the past one or two years, when most wage-earners saw just a steady and moderate income increase, a large number of teachers and professors found their actual income doubled or even tripled, according to individual income tax statistics provided by tax departments.

In the first six months this year, teachers at 53 colleges and universities in the Haidian District of the national capital paid a total of individual income tax worth 115.65 million yuan (about 13.9 million US dollars), a jump of 69 percent, official figures show.

The individual income tax volume paid by some Beijing-based colleges and universities rocketed 160 percent during the past six months, said an official with the Haidian District tax department, owing the phenomenon to the fast growth of lecturers' salaries as well as the great importance the Chinese government attached to education.

Relevant figures from the Ministry of Education show that during the past two decades, the annual salary for college lecturers and professors soared 18.8 fold, and that of teachers in middle and primary schools went up 11.9 fold.

At the start of China's reform and opening-up some 25 years ago, the average salary of teachers was at the bottom of social wage scales in the country.

"I still remember very well the days of early 1980s when college professors were worse paid than a grandma selling ice cream on the street," recalled Prof. Ao Fan with the Sichuan University' Foreign Language Department.

But now in Beijing, even high school teachers, if willing to give some additional tutorial courses to their students on weekends or holidays, can earn up to some 10,000 yuan (or 1,200 US dollars) monthly, much more than ordinary government employees who average around 2,500 yuan (some 300 US dollars) in Beijing, and more even than some company white collar workers.

"Teaching is becoming an increasingly attractive profession as teachers' social status improves and salaries grow," noted a source with the Ministry of Education.

Statistics showed that in 2003, the average annual salary of teachers working in colleges and universities reached 23,300 yuan (approximately 2,800 US dollars), up 2,261 yuan (some 270 US dollars) over 2002 and 22,100 yuan (about 2,670 US dollars) over 1985; that of teachers working in middle schools or primary schools reached 13,300 yuan (about 1,600 US dollars), up 652 yuan (some 80 US dollars) over the previous year and 12,200 yuan (147 US dollars) over 1985.

The remarkable jump in the teachers' incomes not only contribute to national tax revenue, but also helps teachers materialize the dream of owning houses and even private cars, said the Beijing Youth Daily.