When the students were walking from Subotica this spring, teacher Andrea Besedes from Bajmok came out to wait for them, and she organized a protest of 60 people and called for an education strike. Six months later, she was fired
For 16 years, Andrea Besedes taught computer science at the local elementary school in Bajmok near Subotica. However, she met September 1 without a job. She is one of hundreds of teachers who worked for a fixed term in primary and secondary schools in Serbia, and whose contract was not extended because they supported student protests and refused to work in the previous school year out of solidarity.
Besedes received an explanation from the school that her contract was not renewed because she is not qualified for this job. She also admits that, although she is an IT engineer, she has not completed the necessary master's degree that she needs to teach in a school.
However, that did not prevent the school administration from hiring her for the previous 16 school years. Also, among the staff of the same elementary school, she adds, there are eight other teachers who also do not meet the requirements of expertise, but only Besedes was fired.
Informatics is taught by a biology teacher
Her place was taken by another colleague, who by the way is a biology teacher.
"I was the only one who organized a protest at the school during the winter in the spring of this year, which was attended by my former students, now mostly students and parents, in order to support the student struggle," she told "Vreme". "Maybe 60 people gathered, but this is a small community, that's enough for them."
The informatics teacher, now former, also went out to meet the students who were walking from Subotica. She says that she was informed in August that something was going to happen to her, but she was told that the director of the school was determined to keep her safe.
Because Besedes has been receiving recognition for her work for years. Through projects, she connected her school with students from Romania and other countries, and four years ago, together with her department, she participated in a European project Amelie, which dealt with the fight against online and offline violence. Their work was rated as the best in Serbia, and was also awarded at the European level. It received the National and European Label of Education Quality, which are awarded in cooperation with the EU.
"The director did not want to get rid of me, but they insisted on my dismissal from the Subotica city administration," she says.
"Dear children, mom has been fired"
Besedes, after more than 20 years in teaching, applied to the bureau and will receive some kind of compensation for nine months. She says that she will have to teach again, and that she regrets the children the most.
"I don't regret what I did, and I would do it again, but I feel guilty because I love my job very much," she says. "It seems these political games are more important."
She says that she will not stay on the street because she has four adult children, and her two sons live and work in Vienna.
"I called and said, 'Dear children, mom has been fired,'" she recounts. "I was a little embarrassed, but everything is clear to them, I believe they are also proud."
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