Education Ministry: 137 Schools Shut Down Due to Strike on Wednesday

Bratislava, January 27 (TASR) – The number of schools that were closed on Wednesday due to the teachers’ strike went down again from the number recorded on Monday (January 25) when the strike started, announced Education, Science, Research and Sport Ministry spokesperson Beata Dupalova Ksenzsighova on the same day, based on data sent to the ministry by 10 a.m. by district offices.

According to the ministry, while 179 schools were closed on Monday, on Tuesday it was 151 and on Wednesday it was 137 of the total number of Slovak schools – 6,724.

“Today, the number of schools involved in the strike decreased most in Bratislava region. While yesterday 52 schools were recorded, today it’s 34,” said Dupalova Ksenzsighova.

However, the Slovak Teachers Initiative (ISU) said on the same day that 270 schools were completely shut down. A further 186 schools are open, but education is paralysed, while teaching is limited at another approximately 300 schools.

According to Branislav Kocan of ISU, the ministry only uses information on primary and secondary schools and doesn’t count nursery schools, primary artistic schools or school clubs. The ministry denies this, claiming that all schools are included in the statistics.

According to the ISU website, more than 11,200 teachers from 821 schools were on strike at 10.45 a.m. on Wednesday.