The announcement of a salary cut for teachers speaks about the Government's fundamental attitude towards education and is proof that teachers are a fiscal experiment for the current executive branch, and not the foundation of all changes, said Zoja Bojanić Lalović, MP from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).
The Education Trade Union (SPCG) announced that the ministries of finance and education, science and innovation have been grossly violating the Sectoral Collective Agreement (GKU) for the education sector for the second year in a row and that these departments have decided to reduce teachers' salaries by up to 50 euros through a new salary calculation.
Bojanić Lalović stated in a statement that the Government will again test the endurance of educational workers with a new method of calculating salaries, which will reduce the salaries of several thousand teachers by at least 50 euros.
"As the SPCG emphasized in its reaction, the new method of calculation violates Article 22 of the GKU, which provides for an increase in the coefficient for master's and doctoral degrees, for class teachers, acquired teacher titles, coordinators of educational work in facilities outside the institution's headquarters, and for professional service in institutions that have over a thousand students in schools, or children in kindergartens," the statement says.
According to Bojanić Lalović, the announcement of salary cuts speaks to the Government's essential attitude towards education and those who carry it out.
"Of course, such a relationship is not surprising, if we take into account the fact that among those who decide the fate of citizens, there are those with dubious or purchased diplomas," the statement says.
Bojanić Lalović stated that it is not surprising that the dignity of educational workers is not being considered, because it has become a model of relations towards all intellectuals in Montenegrin society.
As she assessed, statements that treat education as a pillar of society are part of populist rhetoric, manipulative and without a sense of responsibility.
"Then budget control and centralization are first implemented in the sector where salaries are already below the state average," said Bojanić Lalović.
She said that those who are the bearers of social development are treated as expenses, while their mouths are full of talk about investments in education.
"Therefore, everything is clear - educators and education are a space for a fiscal experiment for the Government, not the foundation of all changes," believes Bojanić Lalović.
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