Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed Yisr Barnieh issued the executive instructions for Decree No. 68 of 2026, which regulates salaries, compensation, and increases for state employees in the ministries of higher education, health, and education.
According to instructions published by the Syrian Ministry of Finance on its Facebook page on Thursday, May 21, the increase under the decree covers the salary and wage system for employees according to the job titles listed in the schedules attached to these instructions, in the following bodies:
- Ministry of Health.
- Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
- Ministry of Education.
- Ministry of Endowments.
- Central Bank of Syria.
- Central Commission for Control and Inspection.
- Central Organization for Financial Control.
- Atomic Energy Commission.
All bodies affiliated with or linked to the above are included. These entities are considered the approved administrative and employment framework for applying all increases and compensation stipulated in the decree.
Finance Ministry Keeps Increasing Tables Unpublished
The executive instructions did not publish the attached “qualitative increase” schedule, which includes each employee’s salary according to job title, such as surgeon, anesthesiologist, school principal, psychological counselor, university professor, and others. This was similar to what happened with the salary increase for judges, when the attached qualitative increase schedule was also not disclosed.
Employees covered by the decree are granted the monthly wage and compensation according to the attached “qualitative increase” schedule, which determines increase rates according to the nature of the job title.
Employees in remote areas in the ministries of health and education receive additional compensation of 15% of the fixed monthly wage, while employees in semi-remote areas receive compensation of 10% of the same wage, taking into account geographic and service-related working conditions.
Special Compensation, Teaching Pay, and Exams
Those assigned to teach additional hours from the first and second categories, from outside the staffing establishment as well as their counterparts from inside it, in all basic education, secondary, vocational secondary, industrial secondary, and vocational training centers, are granted pay for each theoretical or practical teaching period actually taught. This follows a specific calculation mechanism:
Teaching load x 4.2 minus number of hours equals the fixed salary.
Fixed salary minus number of hours equals the wage for one teaching hour.
This basis is adopted to determine the pay for each additional teaching hour, ensuring fairness in calculating compensation and linking it to the actual workload of teaching.
Compensation for public examination committees continues under the provisions of Decree No. 341 of 2021 after being multiplied five times and converted into the new Syrian pound. The special systems for private education committees and certificate equivalency committees are also applied under the laws in force.
General Organizational Provisions and Exceptions
For job titles not listed in the attached schedules, Decree No. 67 of 2026 and its executive instructions apply. The decree grants a 50% increase in the fixed salary, ensuring comprehensive regulation and preventing any legislative gap.
Former employees of the Salvation Government and staff of the education directorates in Idlib (northwestern Syria) and northern Aleppo are exempt from all deductions and contributions until new instructions are issued. All previous compensation for categories covered by the qualitative increase is canceled as of the decree’s effective date.
The schedule attached to the decree for the Ministry of Education applies to corresponding job titles in the Ministry of Health.
Financial and Implementation Framework
Transportation and travel compensation remains in force under applicable laws and is calculated based on wages in effect on March 17, 2026, with the Ministry of Education schedule adopted for corresponding job titles in the Ministry of Health.
Remote and semi-remote areas are determined by a decision from the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, while the Ministry of Finance coordinates with the relevant bodies in the event of any amendment or creation of a new job title with financial impact.
If an employee’s job classification changes, compensation is paid according to the new title starting from the beginning of the month following the issuance of the decision. All salaries and compensation must be paid exclusively in the new Syrian pound.
The instructions take effect from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette, and salaries will be paid during the final week of May 2026.
The salaries and compensation mentioned in this decree will be paid in the new Syrian pound.
Increase Project Since November 2025
In November 2025, the Syrian Ministry of Finance submitted its proposals on a draft law to increase salaries and wages for specific categories of employees in the ministries of education, health, and higher education and scientific research to the ministers concerned in these bodies.
A source familiar with the proposal at the Ministry of Finance told Enab Baladi at the time that the ministry had submitted the proposals to the relevant ministers in the ministries to which the categories of workers benefiting from the salary and wage increase belong, to agree with the ministers of higher education, health, and education on the final increase rates.
The source said the increase in salaries in health, higher education, and education would not be general, meaning it would not be a single fixed percentage for all categories of workers.
He explained that the salary increase would be calculated for teachers in “several rates,” from “hourly teaching to college graduates, university instructors with doctorates, deans of faculties, university presidents,” and others.
The same applies to the health sector, from nurses to surgeons, anesthesiologists, department heads, hospital directors, and others.
Barnieh: Qualitative Improvement in Wages and Salaries
Finance Minister Mohammed Yisr Barnieh held three separate meetings on October 30, 2025, at the Ministry of Finance headquarters with the ministers of education, higher education and scientific research, and health, with the participation of work teams from those ministries.
According to a LinkedIn post, the finance minister discussed the “financing needs” of the three ministries for the coming period, as well as qualitative improvement in the wage and salary system for employees in these ministries.
Barnieh expressed hope that “the proposals will soon take shape as suitable solutions,” as he put it, and said the Syrian state gives major priority to the education, higher education, and health sectors.
Some Increase Values in a Statement Attributed to Barnieh
The same source told Enab Baladi that the statement attributed to the Syrian finance minister about the value of the increase was not accurate, stressing that “Barnieh did not make any statement about the value of the increase to any media outlet.”
Social media pages circulated a statement attributed to Finance Minister Barnieh, claiming he said there would be a confirmed increase in wages and salaries starting at the beginning of November 2025, as part of a comprehensive plan to improve income and living conditions for state employees. The alleged statement said this would be followed by a significant qualitative increase at the beginning of 2026, covering all government sectors without exception, and that it would be the broadest and most important in terms of value and scope.
In the denied statement, Barnieh was quoted as saying that “the current increase will begin with the education and health sectors and will be determined according to the nature of the work, as the following has been approved: a minimum wage for nursing workers of $450 per month, and a minimum wage for doctors of $1,200 per month, given the nature of the profession and the sensitive tasks they perform.”
The statement added that these figures represent the minimum before calculating family compensation and nature of work compensation, which could raise total monthly income depending on job position and shift hours.
In the education sector, the alleged statement explained that the minimum wage after the increase would be about $330 in Idlib governorate and northern Aleppo countryside, where the increase reached 120% of the current salary of $150. Total income after adding compensation would reach about $450 per month.
The teacher would receive an increase of $2.5 for each additional hour, or a bonus linked to the nature of work and assignment. As for areas that still receive salaries in Syrian pounds, the increase would be 100%, bringing average salaries there to about 2,800,000 Syrian pounds per month instead of 1,400,000 pounds, which the source denied to Enab Baladi.
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