Education Crisis: Reliance on Retired Teachers Is Growing in russia

The proportion of retired teachers in russia is growing, and in some regions, they already outnumber young teachers.

In 22 regions, the number of teachers over 60 exceeds the number of teachers under 35. The largest gap is observed in karachay-cherkessia, kabardino-balkaria, smolensk and pskov regions, where the proportion of old teachers is 1.5 times higher. All in all, the proportion of old teachers has risen from 11.5% in 2017 to nearly 17%, while the percentage of young teachers remains consistently low.

The situation in tatarstan is telling: there is a shortage of about 3,000 teachers, 2,000 of whom are needed in schools. To address the staffing shortage, teachers of retirement age are being actively recruited; they already account for about 23% of the total teaching staff.

The problem is systemic in nature: despite training programs and financial incentives for students and young professionals, the shortage persists. The greatest shortage is in teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and the russian language.

An additional factor is the heavy workload: on average, a teacher in russia works 1.49 full-time hours, and in some regions this figure exceeds 1.9. This makes it difficult to attract young teachers, who often leave the profession due to low salaries and difficult working conditions.