After Thursday strike, teachers plan another for December

Teachers from Bratislava queued up at the National Transfusion Service in the borough of Ružinov on Thursday to donate blood as part of a 'Health Day' organised to highlight the poor state of education that involved more than 200 schools in Slovakia. Some of the schools remained closed, while some were only partly open. "Through this action we want to point out that we're not only concerned about the state of health of the education sector, but also that only someone with their heart in education considers this to be a matter of the heart and they should stop the excuses, promises and counter-arguments and start acting instead. We are acting, and we want the Government to act", said Vladimír Crmoman from the Bratislava teachers' initiative which organised the event. The teachers said that they intend to continue with similar events. "We're initiating another protest that we've entitled 'Babysitting Day', with the subtitle 'You Pay Peanuts; You Get Monkeys'. We want to point out that our salaries aren't developing in the context of market rules, but are at the level of those given to babysitters", explained Crmoman, adding that the event will take place on December 10. The Slovak education, Education, Science, Research and Sport Minister Juraj Draxler responded to Thursday's strike, adding that the public is often unconvinced that teachers need more money. Draxler said that people often complain that teachers enjoy two months of holidays in the summer and shorter working hours. "We need to convince the public why it's necessary to give teachers higher salaries and allocate a greater volume of resources to education", he stated, adding that far-reaching reforms are needed in education.