Teachers protested for higher salaries, thousands took to the streets

Even though most past governments declared education to be a priority, reality suggests otherwise, teachers said during the major protest in Bratislava on June 15.

Thousands of teachers and non-pedagogical workers in education took to the streets of the capital on Wednesday to protest against the government's policy on financing education. Their main demand is higher salaries. They also insist that that inflation was reflected in the higher prices of utilities and groceries, also complicating the basic functioning of school, the TASR newswire reported.

Teachers' protest in Bratislava (4 photos)

The protest gathering marched through Bratislava’s streets, demanding a 10-percent salary raise instead of the 3 percent teachers are going to get along with all the workers in state administration. They also want better work conditions and tariff changes.

Teachers say that they are ready to go on strike in September if their protests fail to motivate the government to make systemic changes.

During the speeches on the stage, teachers' representatives called on PM Eduard Heger to be the leader he should be and deal with the conflict between his two ministers - finance minister, OĽaNO leader Igor Matovič, and economy minister Richard Sulík of SaS.

"We cannot replace fighting kids, but you can replace fighting ministers," the teachers told Heger during the protest, as quoted by the Sme daily.

Heger responded that he spoke about the issue with both Matovič and Sulík and that the government wants to raise teachers' salaries.

"I do realise that teachers' salaries are low," Heger said.

The starting salary of a teacher is €916 before tax (according to the Education Ministry), compared to the €1,212 average wage in the national economy in the first quarter of this year.