At the sitting held on 10 February, the Education Committee debated the situation in the education system due to the teachers’ strike. At the beginning of the sitting, Committee Chairman Prof. Dr Zoran Sami informed all present that eight Committee members had requested that the debate on the issue be postponed considering that the social dialogue between the representatives of the Government and teachers’ unions is still going on.

In view of the importance and urgency of the issue, the Committee held the sitting in line with article 72 paragraph 5 of the National Assembly Rules of Procedure. Minister of Education Zarko Obradovic informed the Committee that the negotiations with the teachers’ unions at the Peaceful Conflict Resolution Agency were completed and that they would be continued once the unions that had not signed the platform submit their proposal.

Minister Obradovic shared the newest data on the number of elementary and high schools on strike and urged the unions and principals to normalise the teaching schedule. He stressed that the Government is committed to a dialogue with the unions and is doing its best to improve the material standing of the education employees depending on real macroeconomic movements and a higher rise in budgetary income than planned.

The representatives of the teachers’ unions pointed out their difficult material situation as well as other problems in the education system. They stressed that three of the four representative unions will continue the strike and that they will soon submit a new pay rise protocol proposal to the Government.

The Committee members stated that the situation in the education is the result of the cut in the education budget. They said that last year one seventh of the total budget expenditure was allocated to education, while this year that share is marginally more that one eighth.