Hungary’s opposition parties have voiced solidarity with teachers who participated in a two-hour warning strike on Monday. At an online press conference, representatives of the opposition Jobbik, Párbeszéd, Momentum, Democratic Coalition, LMP and Socialist parties called for pay hikes for teachers and reducing the burden on them.
They promised the establishment of a separate education ministry and the closure of the school operator Klebelsberg Centre if the opposition won the April 3 general election.
Jobbik’s Tamás Csányi said the most important task of a new government would be raising teachers’ wages, which he said could help boost the profession’s prestige. Gábor Erőss of Párbeszéd said the new government would shut down the Klebelsberg Centre and scrap the school district system after April. Local communities will be handed back control of schools and students will be ensured equal opportunities, he said. Momentum board member Endre Tóth talked about the importance of restoring teachers’ professional independence. Democratic Coalition group leader Gergely Arató called on the government to “stop threatening” the teachers speaking out against the state of the education sector and to “stop treating those who stand up for their professions as enemies”. LMP deputy group leader Krisztina Hohn said the new government would reduce the burdens on both teachers and students. István Hiller of the Socialists said that if the government had kept its promises to teachers, “there would be fewer problems” in the education sector today. He said the reason why the government had not kept its promises was that it did not want to spend the money that was necessary to correct the mistakes it had made earlier on.
Ruling Fidesz said in a statement that the strike was “a campaign event organised by the leftist parties”. “Leftist parties, which stripped teachers of a month’s pay and closed hundreds of schools, fired thousands of teachers and had them work for humiliatingly low wages [when they were on power before 2010], are now exploiting teachers and riling them up,” the statement said.
Early in the afternoon, a convoy of some 200 vehicles held a demonstration in downtown Budapest, in support of the strike. The demonstration organised by the trade union umbrella organisation SZEF started from Heroes’ Square and crossed over to the Buda side of the city before returning to the starting point.
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