Chief of Evangelical Schools Association Damankos Joining SaS

Bratislava, 12 November (TASR) - Marian Damankos is joining the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, where he'll deal with education and local politics, SaS leader Branislav Groehling announced at a news conference on Wednesday.
        Damankos has been serving as the director of the Evangelical School in Presov and is also the president of the Slovak Evangelical Schools Association.        
        Groehling said that Damankos's membership of the party is part of the new story of SaS, which unites moderate conservatives and moderate liberals. However, he denied that SaS will be changing "with so many conservatives".
        "He is a man who, in the new story of the SaS party, uniting moderate conservatives and moderate liberals, is the right 'joint', meaning that we'll once again be able to discuss issues that are important for Slovakia, but especially rightist and economic issues," stated Groehling, adding that he wants the economy and economic measures to be the important thing that will unite them in SaS.        
        The SaS leader characterised Damankos as an expert in education, who was also engaged in designing secondary-school textbooks. "I'd like to contribute towards building and improving both public and private education, as our education system is constantly being criticised," Damankos told a news conference, adding that he'd like to be part of an effort to make education more effective.