Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Teachers' Civil Disobedience Continues, More and More Join Across Country

Teachers' Civil Disobedience Continues, More and More Join Across Country

On Tuesday, more schools than ever before joined teachers in their ‘civil disobedience,’ now in its second week, over a government decree adopted on February 11.

The decree regulates childcare in schools and kindergartens in response to the emergency caused by the coronavirus epidemic. According to the regulation, children must be supervised between 7 am and 4 pm for schools, until 5 pm for primary schools, and 6 pm for nurseries on working days affected by the strike.

As we have also reported, teachers started practicing “civil disobedience” after they came to the conclusion that striking was made nearly impossible (or rather invisible) by the government’s new mandate. According to the two biggest teachers’ unions, the mandate on the provision of sufficient services for teachers’ strikes is unconstitutional, and they will take the case to an international court if necessary.

One of the conditions of the mandate to let teachers strike legally is that each child or pupil may only be in the same room with peers with whom they were in the same group or class before the strike – meaning that they cannot be temporarily grouped together. The reason given by the government is “to protect against the spread of the epidemic.” However, now one of the organizers of the current display of civil disobedience at the II Rákóczi Ferenc Technical High School of Economics in Budapest, said: “We can’t split up the groups because of a lack of teachers.” They hope there will be no obstacles for a strike in March if it comes to that.

Teachers would also not get paid if they decide to go on strike. 35 teachers from the Herman Ottó High School in Miskolc are taking part in the movement, and they think that:

"The government’s decree makes the teachers’ strike not only essentially impossible but also ridiculous, as it would be exhausted by giving up our already humiliating salaries.”


The Herman Ottó High School was the school whose teachers wrote an open letter to the government in 2016, drawing attention to systemic problems in education, and launching a teachers’ movement that turned into protests and teachers’ strikes. They also now write that “We have exhausted every possible legal means of raising awareness to ensure that a radical transformation of public education is achieved as soon as possible. Three weeks ago, we also took part in a two-hour warning strike, one of the demands of which was the settlement of teachers’ salaries, which apart from alleviating our living costs, is one of the conditions for having a supply of teachers, because without teachers there is no education. We believe in democratic solutions, we believe in education for democracy. We, therefore, want to set an example by this action, and we ask everyone to support the aspirations of the teaching profession in the national strategic issue of education.”

More and more schools have joined the movement which started a week ago with the strike of 12 teachers at the Szent László High School in Kőbánya. The first school to do so outside Budapest was also from Miskolc, the Földes Ferenc High School, on Friday.

After the ELTE Apáczai Csere János Training High School, former students of other Eötvös Loránd University’s (ELTE) training schools signed a statement of support alongside the teachers: almost 300 people signed the statement for the ELTE Trefort Ágoston Training High School, while more than 750 signed the statement for the ELTE Radnóti Miklós Training Primary School and Training High School. Among the signatories were also teachers who had previously taught at the schools.

In addition to secondary schools, ELTE teachers working in higher education also signed a solidarity declaration. More than 250 of them expressed their solidarity with their colleagues teaching in public education. They wrote:

"We firmly believe that the civil disobedience of our colleagues also sets an example for future generations to create a successful, autonomous society.”


In addition, student teachers also published a declaration of solidarity with teachers, stating:

"With this declaration, we would like to express our solidarity with our future colleagues who have engaged in civil disobedience action in recent days. We support them in exercising their right to organize and take part in a strike, in accordance with their constitutional right.”


Since the new mandate was published, the protestors’ motto is “Strike is a fundamental right!” Student teachers added: “We would also like to make it clear that our solidarity was decided independently. Accordingly, our declaration is not linked to our universities, trade unions, or schools of practice.”

As we have reported before, Gergely Gulyás, who heads the Prime Minister’s office, said the government understood the teachers’ problems and was happy to negotiate with them on the pay raise, but asked them to respect the law. The minister said civil disobedience, which teachers have already started in several schools, was not the right instrument.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
×