About 200 employees of schools came to Bratislava’s Trnavské mýto traffic junction on Friday, December 14, to express their discontent with the situation in the Slovak education system. The protest was the last that will be held this year, the TASR newswire reported.
The protesters read out an open letter addressed to the government which includes various demands such as a 10-percent salary increase, more paid study days, more protection against attacks against teachers, more quality textbooks and other benefits.
The trade union will decide about potential further strikes and protests after January 8, 2013. By that time it would like to see Education Minister Dušan Čaplovič propose moves aimed at improving the state of affairs in the school system, said head of the schools trade unions Pavel Ondek.
The nationwide strike of school employees began on November 26, but was halted three days later, when the trade unions launched negotiations with the government over their basic requirements. Yet, they have not reached an agreement yet.
Since several schools have not agreed with ending the strike, they started to hold various forms of strikes and protests for three weeks. Some schools are even considering the possibility of not giving students their half-year certificates if the government does not accept their demands.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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