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Teachers’ strike: “We have never released so much budget, the situation will improve”
It had been 11 years since teachers had taken to the streets. They were 10,000 according to the police, 30,000 according to the organizers, to demonstrate this Thursday to denounce the conditions in which they teach. On the set of It’s not every day on Sunday, several teachers came to speak and the Deputy from Brussels and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation heard them. Delphine Chabbert (PS) also detailed the measures taken to help the sector.
They left their classes this Thursday to demonstrate in the streets. Some 10,000 teachers (30,000 according to the organizers) have denounced the conditions in which they give lessons: unsanitary buildings, obsolete equipment, too small and/or overcrowded class… Teachers also feel they are despised, pointing to red tape, oppressive evaluations, lengthy circulars, a lack of recognition, lower end-of-year bonuses than other civil servants… And, according to them, the health crisis linked to the Covid would not have helped anything, quite the contrary.
“Today, we train teachers with tools dating from yesterday or the day before”, denounced Luigi, a young Dutch teacher, on the set of It’s not every day on Sunday. For him, it is particularly not normal that Wifi is still not accessible in the classes in 2022. “We are not talking regarding 4G or 5G”, he adds. For his part, Jean-François, also a teacher, points to the lack of class in the school where he teaches. “We have more classes than locals”he said, explaining that students must systematically change classes depending on the premises occupied.
We are aware of the importance, we have never released so much budget so now, the work will be done. And the situation will improve, we hope, as soon as possible.
Faced with these complaints, the Deputy from Brussels and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation can only sympathize, emphasizing the recognition of all the work done by teaching professionals. “This is not enough, we need concrete measures”, she says. Delphine Chabbert (PS) also detailed the many amounts released for the sector: “137 million euros are put into buildings every year. To that, we added 25 million euros for the issue of sanitary facilities, we added 25 million euros for floods. And we add 1 billion euros in the investment plan, which will be supplemented by the 260 million from the recovery plan”develops the Deputy.
These projects obviously take time to launch but, according to her, more than 70% of the schools responded to the call for projects to benefit from the funds released. “We are aware of the importance, we have never released so much budget so now the work will be done. And the situation will improve, we hope, as soon as possible.”
The salary of teachers would be in the average
The question of teachers’ salaries also poses a problem, in particular the investments that teachers must make for their class. “Since the beginning of the crisis, all the measures imposed on teachers, it is each time the teachers who have to finance them. We do not receive any budget, it eats into our salary”notes Jean-François.
The amount of the annual bonus is also called into question: 25 euros gross per year. And here once more, Delphine Chabbert provides an answer: “We are in a complicated budgetary context, in particular with the crisis. But discussions are underway with the Minister of Education, the unions, the organizing authorities … (…) We can do more but not necessarily on the salary monthly, it is not on the agenda. But reflections are underway on the increase of the annual premium”she assures.
However, in terms of salary, Belgium would be in the middle for Jean-Paul Lambert, honorary rector of the Saint-Louis University in Brussels. And it is not so much the multiplicity of networks that is the cause of the concern. Nor, moreover, the number of pupils per class because, according to him, Belgium has a good overall supervision rate, ie the number of teachers available in relation to the number of pupils at school. Christophe Deborsu’s interlocutor rather points to another important parameter: “Everyone is thinking regarding class size, but that’s not the issue. What’s hampering the situation is the proliferation of under-attended options in qualifying secondary”he says, citing for example that in certain technical or professional options, only one or two students are sometimes registered.
Budgets made available to improve conditions
The Brussels MP talks regarding a “work in progress” to analyze this issue of options. She also recalls that significant budgets have been injected to “Improving the working conditions of teachers”with in particular an individualized support project for students who “will make it possible to strengthen supervision and sometimes divide a class in two to support the children who need it most when they need it most.”
And to continue: “100 million euros have been released to hire additional staff in kindergarten to fight once morest educational inequalities from the start, it’s fundamental!”
Regarding the shortage of teachers, “a whole reflection is made on the attractiveness of the profession”, she says. This is to “support the career of teachers in three stages by strengthening the stabilization of young teachers” and finding solutions to prevent young teachers from leaving the profession following only a few years of experience.
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