Mar 17, 2007News: Teachers in Poland demand resignation of education minister Giertych
By vanrozenheim
(Warsaww, Poland) - Some 10,000 teachers marched in Warsaw on Saturday, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Roman Giertych, whom they accuse of failing to keep promises of raises and of harming the education system. The minister is preparing legislation to sanction school principals who allow members of gay rights organisations to speak with pupils. The 36-year-old Giertych recently also caused controversy at a meeting of EU education ministers when he openly criticised abortion rights and what he termed “homosexual propaganda.”
Giertych is the leader of Poland’s Catholic-nationalist League of Polish Families (LPR), a junior partner in the three-party populist- conservative coalition government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
The protesters, organized by the left-wing Union of Polish Teachers, chanted slogans and blew whistles as they marched by the Education Ministry, parliament and the office of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
They carried banners that read "Zero Tolerance for Giertych" and chanted "Giertych is stupid."
They said Giertych, who is also deputy prime minister and leader of the conservative League of Polish Families, promised raises of 7 percent to the teachers, instead gave only 5 percent. Teachers' earning have been among the lowest in Poland since the fall of communism and the transformation to a market economy in the 1990s.
The teachers also maintain that the quality of education has fallen because of decisions Giertych has made, such as backing out of plans to lower the age for compulsory education from 6 to 5.
