Teachers battle students’ praise of Slovak wartime president

History teachers at primary and secondary schools are having to fight against expressions of admiration from their students for Slovak wartime fascist state president Jozef Tiso. This was reported by the SME daily on Tuesday. Teachers are being met with statements that Jozef Tiso was a national hero, with the justification being he having saved Slovakia from participating in the war. The source of such information is usually the students' households or the internet. However, the fact that Slovakia willingly deported 70,000 of its own citizens to concentration camps during WWII doesn't appear to be as widely discussed. Teachers say they must be very cautious while explaining some facts and links to the current political situation so that it is understandable to students, adding that students have no scruples with this topic, often becoming confrontational with teachers. Teachers concur that higher quality teaching material would help them in such situations. However, they haven't yet received support from the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports in terms of digital content.