The agreement between representatives of the Government and three educational unions, which agreed on the protection of the labor law status of teachers in vocational schools and formalized the framework for discussions with the Government on improving the material rights of all employees in education and science, was signed on Friday.
This avoided a strike by high school teachers and enabled the smooth implementation of the state graduation exam procedure.
After the signing, Minister of Science, Education and Youth Radovan Fuchs said that the discussions and negotiations resulted in an agreement and a solution that was the product of the possible, and it was good, he said, that everyone finally understood that in the interest of the well-being of students, ending this school year was very important.
"I have to justify the Ministry's positions throughout, because we argued that this issue should not have been at such a high level of tension," said Fuchs, expressing satisfaction with the agreement. He noted that the rules on evaluation will be regulated differently than what is currently defined in the regulation, and that union representatives will also participate in its creation.
Regarding the vocational education reform, we agreed that implementation can no longer be stopped or postponed for a year, said the minister, adding that no one will be fired, and the fear that individual teachers will not be able to meet the quota has also been removed.
It was agreed that a committee would be formed by September 1st at the latest to go through items related to coefficients, Fuchs added, as well as issues highlighted by the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education - the imbalance in certain components of state budget beneficiaries.
The president of the Preporod School Union, Željko Stipić, pointed out that the Agreement is the result of responsibility towards the most important people in the system - the students, but that it was not easy to make the decision to announce a strike at a time when grades are being finalized and the state matriculation exam is being taken.
If we had any other solution, we would not have followed that solution, Stipić emphasized, recalling the protests and strikes that took place. At any cost, we did not want to give up the will of the members, which binds us, and the majority of our members decided to move the solution of the problem from the street to the table and for the unions and the Ministry to try to find a solution together.
In the beginning, there was no understanding of the problem and from a non-topic it became a topic - teacher evaluation and coefficients, as well as protecting colleagues from the unknowns of the vocational education reform, Stipić said.
"We are satisfied with the solution and the union's actions," said Stipić, announcing a further fight for the position of workers in education and science that they deserve.
The general secretary of the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education, Matija Kroflin, said that three crucial issues should be resolved - coefficients, evaluations and modular teaching, saying that the unions will not give up on this.
Photo: HINA/Denis Cerić
