The protest gathering “Teachers and professors are with the students” ended on the Plateau in front of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, with a call for a strike not only in education but also more broadly. Dušan Kokot, president of the Independent Union of Education Workers of Serbia, under whose organization the protest was held, declared a general strike in education, promising that this union would provide legal and all other assistance to every education worker.
The protest ended shortly before 12 noon, and the educators paid tribute to the victims of the tragic collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad, as well as the victims of today’s fire in a nursing home in Batajnica, with 16 minutes of silence.
The gathering began at 11:30 am with the song “Živeti slobodno” by Đorđe Balašević. The anthem of academic citizens was also intoned.
Vesna Tomić, a teacher from Valjevo, said they had gathered to support the students in their fight against corruption and for the rule of law.
“Dear colleagues, former and current students, children of Dositej Obradović, he is watching us from Studentski park and says ‘Worthless are people who do not respect the teacher’s job’,” said Professor Jovo Bakić.
Bakić adds that this regime is not a political opponent, but a den of organized crime.
Nataša Medenica, a teacher from Niš, addressed those who are in the classrooms today and had a question for them.
“How can you tell the students good morning while students are being attacked with knives, beaten in the halls of the faculties, and called mercenaries and agents of foreign forces?”
She asked the teachers who remained in the classrooms what they would say to the students when they ask them about the students’ demands and whether they will tell them that a slightly higher salary is greater than freedom.
Jelena Teodorović, a professor at the University of Kragujevac, addressed primarily as a mother of two students and two high school students.
“Dear students, I want to thank you on my behalf and on behalf of a large number of people in Serbia for giving us a hand to pull us out of the living mud of apathy and despair! Due to the media darkness and usurped institutions, we adults have learned not to ask too many questions and to mind our own business. That learned helplessness of ours has led us to normalize injustice and make us silent accomplices of this regime which is lying, corrupt, thieving, and violent.
When it seemed that the canopy would become another accident that we would suppress, you appeared and said mom, dad – how dare you close your eyes to this that doesn’t concern you, students, you stood up because of injustice but you also stood up to save our souls, thank you for that.
Dear educators, will we accept the extended hand or will we drown in the living mud? There is no escape from the mud with this regime. Everything they have touched they have destroyed. Just look at the theft, corruption, and violence in education. The budget allocated for education is the second smallest in Europe. Money for education, yes, but it was stolen from us and is currently, while I am addressing you, being built into the foundations of the Expo halls, the national stadium. Teachers are being beaten on the head by the local SNS ‘do you know who I am’ underworld. We cannot even begin to deal with other big problems in education from this corruption, theft, and violence – oversized preschool groups, lack of state kindergartens, a large deficit of teaching staff, overcrowded curricula, excessive administration, quality of teaching, development of a culture of cooperation and tolerance,” she said in her speech.
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Teodorović also addressed the graduates with the words welcome back from vacation.
“I am sure that the students are eager to hear what you will decide at your plenums,” said Teodorović.
She told the other citizens that the education system is waiting for them to join.
“Engineers, doctors, workers, farmers, clerks, artists, craftsmen, private entrepreneurs – stop your work. All of us need to strengthen our spine. Don’t be embarrassed in front of the children! And finally, I have a short message for the regime, i.e. those so-called people who have usurped the state: there are more of us, we are smarter, and we are better people,” said Teodorović.
Marija Starčević, a Serbian language teacher, also addressed those present.
“We are showing that we are determined, brave, today I am experiencing déjà vu because more than 20 years ago I stood here just like many of you. Today I am here as a teacher, a parent, but above all as a person with the right to an opinion, who has the right to live from their work. Unfortunately, I am here as part of a generation that failed to leave a legal state for its descendants. We must not give up, nor surrender.”
She states that it is no longer about salaries and working conditions, but about the need for a person not to be arrested and trampled on the streets.
If we haven’t taught our students to think, to take what belongs to them, we haven’t taught them anything.
The gathered insist on the removal of the Minister of Education, Slavica Đukić Dejanović.
Dušan Kokot, president of the Independent Union of Education Workers of Serbia, greeted those who could not make it today because they were stopped, disconnected from traffic, and, as he says, thugs were sent to some schools.
“It is a sad country where educators are targeted as the biggest criminals. When we announced on January 6 that classes would be suspended, many did not believe that it would actually happen. On the same day, the government and the so-called representative unions announced their agreement, so Miloš Vučević said that the semester would start on January 20 and that’s it.
They threatened us with dismissal, both Vučić and Đukić Dejanović, and the more they threatened, the more educators decided that the semester would not start today, and that’s it.
According to the data we have, in more than 50% of schools in Serbia, the semester did not start. In the largest cities, the semester did not start in 80 to 90% of schools,” said Kokot.
He called on educators to go on a general strike, which they enthusiastically supported.
In addition to educators, a large number of students and high school students from Belgrade are attending the gathering.
The protest was organized due to the dissatisfaction of educators who do not accept the agreement between the government and the representative unions of education, but also in support of the students who are blocking the faculties.
“Educators want to show dignity, determination, and courage to oppose the authorities who offer them Danaan gifts while simultaneously robbing and humiliating them. Educators also want to unequivocally stand with the students in the fight to establish the rule of law and suppress systemic corruption,” the union previously announced.
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Source: Danas, Photo: V. A./Danas