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Thousands of teachers protest against school reform in Warsaw

Xinhua, November 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Thousands of demonstrators, including teachers, parents and other opponents, gathered in Poland's capital city of Warsaw on Saturday to protest against the planned reforms to the education system.

The demonstration's organizer, the Polish Teachers' Union, said that about 50,000 people joined the protest. They held signs reading: "No chaos in schools" and "Stop revolution in education".

"We want to protest against the chaos, turmoil and dismantling of the Polish education system," said Slawomir Broniarz, the head of the Polish Teachers' Union.

Local media have reported that protesters are concerned the reform would hurt teachers interests and cause teacher layoffs.

Poland's Education Minister Anna Zalewska has previously said the new plans are well thought out, and there will be no layoffs of teachers as a result of the reforms.

According to current reform plans, which will start next year, the current model of 6-year elementary, 3-year lower secondary and 3-year higher secondary schools will be replaced by 8-year elementary and 4-year secondary school or five-year vocational school. Endit