Teachers’ demos in eleven cities
February 4th, 2016A left-wing daily welcomes demonstrations initiated by the teachers of a Miskolc high school as an example of “the courage and autonomy of citizens”, while a right-wing webmagazine suggests that the teachers’ “legitimate protest movement” is being used by Soros-funded NGOs.
In a front page editorial Népszabadság writes that schools throughout the country have in one single moment rallied behind the teachers of the Miskolc grammar school who called on the government to dismantle the centralised public education system it introduced four years ago.
Their open letter was later signed by tens of thousands of people throughout Hungary. The Teachers Trade Union is planning a mass demonstration in Budapest next week and marches of teachers were organised in eleven towns on Wednesday. They are demanding more autonomy for schools, and asking the government to reduce the paperwork teachers have to perform. They also think students are overburdened too. The Minister of Human Resources has decided to convene a round table to discuss their demands.
Népszabadság remarks that the teachers of the Ottó Hermann Grammar School in Miskolc have achieved something neither trade unions nor parties have been capable of – to convince ‘an intimidated intellectual layer’ to stand up for its interests.
On Pesti Srácok, Sziveszter Szarvas calls the teacher’s demands “a good cause,” but deplores the presence of liberal anti-government NGOs, funded by Hungarian American investment guru George Soros’s network among the organisers.