Teachers’ movement calls for civil disobedience on March 30

Budapest, March 24 (MTI) – The Tanítanék (I want to teach) teachers’ movement has called for an hour-long nationwide civil disobedience protest in the morning of March 30.

István Pukli, the headmaster of Budapest’s Teleki Blanka secondary school, noted at a Thursday press conference that during a demonstration on March 15, the prime minister had been called on to apologise to “teachers who suffered humiliation over the past six years” but Viktor Orbán failed to act. Additionally, no progress has been made concerning a 12-point list of demands presented by the Civil Public Education Platform, he said.

The Tanítanék movement is asking teachers and supporters around Hungary to express their dissatisfaction by protesting in front of their respective schools between 8am and 9am on March 30, Pukli said.

Katalin Törley, a representative of the teachers’ movement, said children will not be left unattended during the protest.

Olivér Pilz, a teacher from Miskolc in northeast Hungary, said that the government’s announcement to abolish state school manager Klik was merely an effort to “trim” public support for the teachers’ protests.

The human resources ministry suggested in reaction that the protest was not serving the interests of children and teachers, and suggested “dialogue and joint efforts” in the public education roundtable instead. In its statement, the ministry condemned that “children should be involved in political actions” but added that teachers participating in the strike would not be penalised.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters