Socialists to turn to top court over dismissal of teachers

Written by BT/MTI

The opposition Socialist Party is turning to the Constitutional Court over the dismissal of teachers who took part in civil disobedience, the party’s co-leader said on Friday.

Because a constitutional review requires supporting signatures from 50 lawmakers, the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group leader will on Friday send a letter to the other opposition groups, requesting their support, Agnes Kunhalmi told an online press conference.

The Socialists side with teachers and with those “whose rights are infringed by the government”, Kunhalmi said, calling on the government to withdraw a draft legislation that would change the status of teachers.

She argued that the model contained in the proposal was “anti-teacher, anti-student and anti-education”.

This draft legislation would “definitively dismantle Hungarian schools”, she said, arguing that it went against every aspect of Hungary’s agreement with the European Union. She said the agreement stipulated that the government and parliament cannot unilaterally introduce measures that increase teachers’ workload, restrict existing professional competencies or make the teaching profession less attractive.