Swedish government vows to strengthen school system

The Swedish government announced a reform package on Tuesday to help the country's school system turn results around.

The center-left coalition pledged to spend fresh funds totaling 2.4 billion SEK (283 million U.S. dollars) to raise teachers' salaries, ensure the right to adult education and bolster the number of specialized teachers.

"Regardless of where one studies, one must have the right to complete a high-school education," Upper Secondary School Minister Aida Hadzialic said, according to news agency TT.

Swedish municipalities will be given extra resources to receive up to 70,000 additional students while the government will bump the salaries of around 60,000 teachers by 3,000 SEK a month.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said the wage hike was a priority and stressed that the number of applicants to teachers' colleges in the country is too low.

The government will present the changes in full in its fall budget, due in three weeks.

In May, the OECD urged Sweden to introduce "system-wide change" to its school system, which slid heavily in the international Pisa education rankings published in 2012. (1 U.S. dollar = 8.48 SEK)