Teachers and activists from the Slovak Teachers' Initiative (ISU) and Slovak Teachers' Chamber (SKU) held a public protest in front of the Government Office and Parliament on Thursday, urging lawmakers to kill the Educational and Professional Employees Act also vetoed by President Andrej Kiska.
Dozens of protesting teachers maintain that the bill fails to meet the 2016-20 Government Manifesto and is oriented against pedagogues. "The current chasing after credits was supposed to be replaced by a system of teacher education that should guarantee an improvement in the quality of the educational process. Instead of this long-awaited change, however, the bill only ushers in a reduction of the current system, which is inspiring discontent on the part of teachers, experts and Finance Ministry analysts," claimed the ISU, adding that the legislation discriminates against some groups of teachers and hamstrings their prospects of career growth. According to the protesters, the bill also fails to guarantee sufficient protection from bossing, with school principals still untouchable and beyond reproach.
In response, Education Minister Martina Lubyova (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) pointed out that the bill took over two years to be drafted. "We even extended deadlines so that everyone could attach comments," claimed Lubyova. "The legislation brings about quite a large number of improvements and, in general, won't undermine anyone's position." The minister believes that only a vocal minority has gone onto the streets, with the majority being happy with the state of affairs.
