Kokot: More than 50% of Schools on Strike, Between 80% and 90% in Major Cities

(BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

The president of the Independent Union of Education Workers of Serbia (NSPSS), Dusan Kokot, said on Jan. 20 that 50% of schools in Serbia were on strike, 80% to 90% of those being in Serbia’s largest cities.

Speaking in downtown Belgrade at the gathering "Teachers and Professors Standing by the Students," Kokot declared the rally a plenary session of education workers at which a decision to go on a general strike was made.

The union leader announced that the NSPSS would take responsibility for the decision, ensuring legal and other support for any educator in need.

"We are sending this message to Prime Minister Milos Vucevic – you won't be firing anyone. You've just been fired, and you can take Minister of Education Slavica Djukic Dejanovic with you. You made salary arrangements with the so-called representative unions and promised the schools would never go on strike. Well, you should have looked before you leaped," Kokot said, as the protesters chanted "General strike!"

The presidents of the faculties in Belgrade that train future teachers promised to support the educators’ struggle for the dignity of the profession and freedom of thought, requesting the Ministry of Education to instruct the Education Inspectorate to immediately cease the persecution of the striking teachers and schools.

The leaders of the Faculties of Biology, Geography, Physical Education, Physical Chemistry, Philology, Philosophy, Mathematics, and Chemistry stated that the educators’ dissatisfaction with the state of education in Serbia was entirely justified, as was the support to the student protests and demands. The faculties’ presidents condemned "the pressure and threats which school principals and state officials have exposed teachers to."