Education Workers Organize Blockade in Front of Ministry of Education

BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV

Serbian thousand education workers, students and citizens blocked traffic in front of the Ministry of Education in Belgrade on Feb. 25 as part of a protest held under the slogan, “Your Are Responsible – It Depends on You.”

Representatives of the informal education workers’ organizations that organized the protest read a joint statement in which they said that the Ministry of Education was the most responsible for the current situation and that it had not contributed to meeting the demands of university students and high school students and their teachers.

In addition to supporting student demands, education workers called for all measures against their colleagues who had stopped working to be withdrawn, a review of how well education workers were represented by the existing unions in the area, the depoliticization of the Ministry of Education and the appointment of a minister and their associates according to their professional competencies.

The four-hour blockade was joined by Novi Sad teachers who participated in a marathon relay race from Novi Sad to Belgrade.

Students from several cities in Serbia embarked on Feb. 25 on foot for Nis where a large protest called the Student Edict will be held on March 1.

The students who have occupied their university schools in Novi Sad called for a new general strike on March 7 and urged citizens to not go to work, buy anything in stores, visit cafes, restaurants and theaters and to join them in the streets.