The teachers demanded the dismissal of the Minister of Education, Branko Ružić, as well as changes to the Criminal Code and the Law on the Basics of the Education System.
"The union calls on all educators, parents, students and political actors to support the protest, because violence in schools is a reflection of violence in society and affects all citizens," the statement added.
Education employees, who are members of several trade unions, suspended work in schools on Thursday and Friday across Serbia, after the shooting at the "Vladislav Ribnikar" elementary school, when a thirteen-year-old boy in Belgrade killed eight students and a security guard of that school, and injured another six students and a teacher.
Enormous pressures after the requested removal of the minister
The independent union of educational workers of Serbia warned that from the moment they declared a work stoppage and presented a request for the dismissal of the minister, the pressure on education employees is enormous.
The demands of the Independent Union of Educators of Serbia (NSPRS) are to amend the Law on the Basics of the Education System and other regulations regulating that area to introduce the possibility of suspending students from classes; to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to define appropriate penalties for assaulting an employee in an educational institution and to abolish the possibility of anonymous reports against employees in education.
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