PHOTOS: Huge demonstration held in Budapest
The students organisation dubbed United Student Front and other organisations staged a demonstration against the new law on teachers’ career paths on Friday evening.
The protesters gathered at Margaret Bridge and moved to Kossuth Lajos Square near Parliament where a stage had been set up and they placed the flag of the teachers’ trade union PDSZ there. Several opposition politicians and activists joined the protest, including Bence Tordai of Párbeszéd, Ágnes Kunhalmi of the Socialists, independent MP Ákos Hadházy and student activist Lili Pankotai. Here are Hadházy’s photos:
And Ágnes Kunhalmi’s:
Activist of the Tanítanék (I want to teach) movement Katalin Törley said they had experienced “oppression” and “revenge by way of the law on teachers”. Protests held in the past procuded hardly any results, except the joining of forces between teachers, students and parents and the international attention attracted, she added.
PDSZ national board member Zoltán Szendrei announced at the event that he would leave the teaching profession as a result of the low wages and demanded wage increase and the reduction of work burdens for those that remain teachers. He called for increased budget allocation on education and an independent ministry run by a competent person. At the end of the protest, the participants marched to the Chain Bridge to join a climate protection protest organised by the Fridays for Future movement.
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Minister hopes for fundamental changes in teachers’ wages
The head of the Prime Minister’s Office expressed hope on Friday that teachers’ wages will undergo radical changes in the next 18 months or two years. Gergely Gulyás told a year-opening event of Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) in Szekszard, in southern Hungary, that teachers should receive wages that reflect the importance of their work.
“I think we are closer to this than anybody would think and a breakthrough may occur within months, resulting in significant wage increases,” he said. Over the past decade, a record number of schools were revamped, the number of places in creches increased to 62,000, and many kindergartens underwent a revamp, he said.
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