Bulgaria: Urgent Action Appeal Update
Secondary school teachers from across Bulgaria may go on general strike according to Yanka Takeva, head of EI affiliate Syndicat des Enseignants Bulgares (SEB).
Takeva has said that the SEB is ready to sue the state “if the health of the teachers who carry out the hunger strike deteriorates”. SEP Podkrepa - Syndicat des Enseignants, also a Bulgarian EI affiliate, are also involved with protest actions. The Ministry of Education had made plans to distribute 4.92 per cent of the country’s GDP to the education sector increasing salaries by 20 per cent, but the recently proposed budget simply does not allow it. In the proposed Budget 2006, the funds provided for education come to 1.9 billion leva - 29 million leva less than the funds allocated for 2005. The Education Ministry has refused to agree with the Government-proposed draft Budget 2006 and has labelled it as the budget in which education “is no longer a priority for Bulgaria”.
