As the school year resumed today
in Serbia after the winter vacation break, classes were held
regularly in more than 80 percent of primary and secondary
schools. Breaking the news was Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, who
warned teachers and school administrators intent on continuing
the political protest, in support of the movement of university
students who have been blocking numerous faculties and
demonstrating almost daily in Belgrade and other cities across
the country for weeks. Speaking at the end of a meeting with
Minister of Public Education Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, the
premier said that starting tomorrow a general inspection will be
triggered in schools that, against the law, implement a
suspension of classes and regular teaching activities. It is
unacceptable, Vucevic noted, for politics to take place in
schools, depriving children of the teaching to which they are
entitled and which is of enormous importance to them. "There is
the parliament, there are the squares, there are the media,
that's where politics is talked about. But children must be
defended from daily politics and the various disputes between
political forces," said the premier, who also appealed to
parents in this regard. Over the past few days, during the break
in classes, the government agreed with professional unions on
two-tranche salary increases for school staff, but part of the
teaching staff has been dissatisfied, leading authorities to
believe that theirs is a purely political protest, in support of
the oppositions aiming at the removal of the current leadership
accused of poor democracy, control of the media and lack of
success against corruption.
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