Parents protest striking teachers
Secondary school teachers agreed yesterday to strike next week in support of protesting primary school colleagues while parents said they will organize a march of their own, demanding an end to the industrial dispute. The Federation of Secondary School Teachers (OLME) gave the green light late yesterday for a three-day strike next week. Due to Sunday’s second round of municipal elections and the October 28 national holiday, next week’s school days are fewer than normal. According to sources, a number of teachers at the OLME meeting pointed out the high cost of lost income and said that many colleagues prefer to hold classes. Nine days of strike action called by secondary teachers has cost them a total of 24.3 million euros in lost income. The Primary School Teachers’ Federation (DOE) will decide today whether they will continue their strike for a sixth week on Monday over the pay dispute. Secondary school students also agreed yesterday to continue holding sit-in protests until November 3 as they call for money state funding in education. Meanwhile, parents are organizing a demonstration outside of the Education Ministry for Monday demanding that a solution be found to the problem. Apart from parents being required to juggle their schedules to take care of children who have no classes, there are many concerns as to how the teaching material will be covered by the end of the year.
