About 10,000 striking Romanian primary and secondary school teachers converged on the government building in downtown Bucharest, calling for better pay, more investment in education.
More than 150,000 primary and secondary school teachers plus auxiliary staff on May 22 declared a general strike, the first such protest staged by Romanian education unions since 2005.
Those attending the protest march will then head toward Cotroceni Palace to call for a meeting of their representatives with President Klaus Iohannis.
Health-care employees, police and railway workers have also signaled that they are preparing to go on strike.
Protesters on June 9 gathered outside the government headquarters on Victoria Square in central Bucharest chanting „Shame on the government! You took us out of the classroom,” „Wake up, Romania!” and „Any nation dies without education.”
Some secondary school students joined the protest in solidarity with their teachers.
A Romanian teacher’s starting monthly salary is the equivalent of just over $520 about half the national average of $988.
The coalition government has argued that it cannot offer more to the teachers because a further increase would threaten obtaining recovery funds earmarked by the European Commission for Romania. But unions say that is a lie.
An aging staff and lack of young competent teachers as well as decades of failure to reform and invest in Romania’s education system have prompted an acute crisis.
If teachers stop strike by next week, students to hold national exams
