Kyiv education workers came out to protest outside the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
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The protesters were unhappy with the cuts in educational spending. Next year, Kyiv teachers and educators will receive less than 1 billion 200 million UAH. About 7 thousand educational workers will be fired.
“The cynicism that the government has shown towards workers in the educational sector, in particular in the capital, has no boundaries,” said the head of the Kyiv City Trade Union of Education Workers, Alexander Yatsun, from the stage. – We will not give up 1 billion 200 million UAH, this is our money, our salary. The government, the prime minister, the guarantor and the Verkhovna Rada must know that we are forming the human capital of Ukraine, its tomorrow. If they start humiliating us and making cuts, we will resist and enter into a collective labor dispute with the government.”
First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Vladimir Kovtunets was also allowed to speak, but his speech turned out to be very brief. “Dear teachers, we understand the concerns, but the budget process is not such a simple thing,” he said, after which teachers began shouting “Ganga!”, whistling and ringing bells.
The deputy minister left, and Alexander Yatsun said that the prime minister was missing at the rally. “He had a special business trip, he is afraid of education workers. We do not demand a promotion, you stop insulting education, because education is the basis of Ukrainian statehood. Together with the Ukrainian army, these are two forces that shape Ukraine as a state,” he said.
Ukrainian education is already experiencing a personnel shortage, said the head of the Svyatoshin district organization of the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers of Ukraine Lyudmila Zavaritko.
“The salary increase that was this year was long ago eaten up by inflation - rising prices. Teaching staff are aging, and young people are not going to work in educational institutions. What will happen to our industry in 10 years?,” she said.
The rally was one of the largest in recent times - although some Ukrainian media reported about 250 protesters who blocked traffic near the Cabinet of Ministers, the real number of participants was in the thousands.