Teachers in Romania warn that they will continue protests in the coming days and may even go on a general strike, and until then they will boycott lessons in a series of institutions. The announcement was made by unionists, who concluded that the teachers’ demands have not been resolved and that their discussions with President Nicușor Dan have failed, reports IPN.
Following the dialogue at the Cotroceni Palace, the president of the National Education Federation “Spiru Haret”, Marius Nistor, stated that Nicusor Dan took note of the teachers’ requests. Among the teachers’ demands are the resignation of the profile minister, Daniel David, the repeal of the law that increased the teaching norm in pre-university education, the reduction of scholarships for students, as well as the issue of school consolidation.
Marius Nistor stated that Nicusor Dan did not express an opinion regarding the minister’s resignation, and concerning the austerity law, the president proposed a new meeting within a maximum of two months, when exact data on the impact of the measures taken by the Bolojan Government would be presented.
At the same time, several teachers have announced that they will boycott the lessons. More precisely, teachers might only enter the classroom to supervise the students, they will mark the absences, and essentially, the role of the teaching staff will be reduced to merely monitoring the class, without conducting the educational process.
The unions have not made public the number of teachers participating in the boycott, and the education authorities have so far not provided a response regarding sanctions. Normally, failure to fulfill job duties is penalized, from verbal warning to termination of the employment contract.
The school year in Romania began on September 8, however, instead of being in the classroom, thousands of teachers protested in Victoriei Square in Bucharest.
