Novosad Responds to Online "Harassment" After Saying Minister's Salary Is Not Enough to Support a Child
She is fundamentally dissatisfied with the salaries of teachers and scientists, so she wants to change this.
Ukrainian Minister of Education and Science Anna Novosad responded on Facebook to the discussion taking place online after her interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
"For me, being a minister is definitely not a way to earn large incomes. What matters to me is implementing the changes that we, as the government, promised when we started work. This is my main motivator".
Novosad said that she is not satisfied with the salaries of preschool and school teachers. She believes that changes in the education and science system will not happen unless professional people begin to be paid properly. She also added that this very issue became key in discussions with the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Finance.
At the same time, she supports the Cabinet's position that officials' salaries should correspond to their specific work results. The education minister agreed that the wording in her interview was unfortunate, since the country still has a significant gap in people's incomes.
Anna Novosad's interview caused a public outcry against the backdrop of debates over officials' salaries in Ukraine. In the interview, the 29-year-old Anna said she takes home about 36 thousand hryvnias. However, in her words, that amount might not be enough if she had a family and needed to raise children. It was precisely these words that sparked the controversy.
Anna Novosad
Minister of Education and Science of UkraineAt some point I will want to have a child, and I won't be able to support one on such a salary. And I am not ready to find myself in a situation where someone supports me; I must have a competitive salary myself. So there will come a time when I simply cannot live in Kyiv on such a salary, and that will be a decision that will have to be made consciously.
Many people supported Novosad. For example, the founder of the portal Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttia, Halyna Tytysh, stated: "It is perfectly normal for a person to plan their life and understand that 36 thousand hryvnias in salary is impossible for supporting yourself and a child (when you are a minister and your only income is your salary). Otherwise, the minister would have to give half of her salary to a nanny and spend the rest on formula, diapers and everything else".
Other people who agreed with Anna Novosad's position said that it would indeed be difficult to raise a child in Ukraine on such money, and that everyone's needs are completely different.
However, a clearly negative position toward Novosad's statements was evident online. Some claimed that one can raise a child in the country on 36 thousand hryvnias, while others raised the issue of how teachers with experience should live on a pension of 2 thousand hryvnias. Some deputies blamed all officials in general and said they had "lost touch with reality".
One way or another, Anna Novosad's statements triggered an "explosion" in social media and in the educational community as a whole.
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