Opposition Párbeszéd pledges support for teachers’ strike

The opposition Párbeszéd parliamentary group has pledged its support for a planned teachers’ strike and has also offered financial aid for the action, a party MP said on Tuesday.

At an online press briefing, Tamás Mellár appealed to the public to express solidarity with teachers and support the strike.

He said teachers were not calling for the action out of self-interest but because they were in the midst of an education system “in a state of deep crisis”.

Mellár insisted that Hungary’s education system had been degraded by the government, which had also placed “severe restrictions” on the right to strike. He added that civil disobedience in such a legal environment was “necessary” as well as “understandable and forgivable”.

Noting that striking teachers had been threatened with dismissal, he said “incompetent and unscrupulous” government officials should be sacked instead.