89% of schools not involved in teachers strike: education ministry
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
01.04.2017 10:41
89 percent of Polish schools were unaffected by a Friday teachers strike, Poland's education ministry has announced, while the protest's organiser said 40 percent of schools took part.
Photo: PAP/Tytus Żmijewski.
The Polish Teacher's Association, the country's largest teachers union, organised the nationwide strike demanding assurances that until 2022 neither teachers nor other school employees will be made redundant and that their pay will not be cut.
They also want a ten-percent salary hike.
Participating schools asked parents to keep their children at home while teachers and school admin staff stopped work on Friday.
But Prime Minister Beata Szydło told Polish Radio: “Political demands cannot be implemented at the expense of children.” She added: “The strike organisers, the heads of the union, are politically engaged.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Marzena Machałek claimed the "absolute" majority of teachers and parents do not support the strike.
Machałek said that plans for pay rises for teachers would be unveiled in April, adding that teachers would be "satisfied".
According to the education ministry, teachers wages will be valorised this year – for the first time since 2012 – and planned changes to the education system will create 5,000 new teaching jobs. (vb)
Source: PAP