All educators, both obedient and disobedient, those who are went on strike and those who did not - received the same salary for the first part of January as of this morning (February 6).
While teachers who do not teach classes think that, in this way, the state shows sympathy for them, Slavica Djukić Dejanović tells "Vreme" that her "idea is that our schools work" and that "joint solutions are sought".
"It's not an extended hand, but an invitation for children to go back to school," she adds.
The catch is that this is only the first part of the salary for educators, and they should receive the second part only on February 21, even with a hand out, Đukić Dejanović says that the decision has not yet been made:
"The circumstances are such that it is still being evaluated (whether the salary will be reduced by the second part). "For me, as a minister, it is important that we get politics out of the classrooms, that children go back to school," she says.
"It's not just an educational inspection, we also have a budget inspection, so the question is whether we will strictly adhere to the law in these circumstances or we will go for some other solution."
The law on strikes stipulates that strikers in education receive 15 percent less pay for those days when they worked reduced hours, that is, they held classes for 30 minutes. The law does not even stipulate that classes should not be held at all, so such a strike is illegal.
Has understanding arrived?
Tamara, a teacher in a small rural school, has not held any classes since January 20 in order to support students in lockdown, but she also fought for her own rights as part of the educators' strike.
However, when she woke up on Thursday, she was waiting for a message from the bank that she had received her salary, which, not only was not reduced, but also increased, probably by the amount of 11 percent, which was still by prior agreement foreseen.
"There was a lot of news about how much the salary would be reduced for those of us who didn't teach," Tamara tells "Vreme" and adds with a laugh. "Now that I see that the salary is even higher than last month, I come to the conclusion that we are supported and understood by the state."
Tamara thinks that, if the state had already decided that their salaries would be reduced, it would have already been reflected in the first part of the payment.
Threats in a row - all in a bucket
The news circulating about the reduced pay was not just a rumor from the school corridors, it came - directly from competent ministry.
On January 24, the Ministry of Education sent a notice to the principals of primary and secondary schools in Serbia, ordering that when calculating the January wages, they should be reduced by the employees who participated in the strike.
The directors were then invited to, based on the Law on the Basics of the Education System, apply the aforementioned legal provisions when entering data for the calculation and payment of salary for January 2025.
Before this, from the competent ministry, as well as from the Government of Serbia, also arrived many other threats - the first one was the one about the dismissal of teachers who will strike, and then came the announcement that those who will not hold classes will have to stay at school for a few more hours a day.
Then came the information that the disobedient would have to work over the summer to make up for the lessons, and there were daily threats of an educational inspection.
However, it turned out that many educational inspectors refused to go to schools and control teachers, and so far not a single teacher has been fired.
