Educational actions from Tuesday: disruption expected in schools

At least 2,000 demonstrators will participate in the first day of action of the education unions ACOD Education, COC and VSOA Education in Antwerp on Tuesday out of dissatisfaction with the report of the Commission of the Wise. Actions will also follow in other provinces in the coming days. This is expected to cause disruption to the course offering.

The three education unions are organizing five demonstrations in May, each on a different day in a different city. All Flemish provinces have their turn. The first demonstration will take place in Antwerp next Tuesday. The first figures show that attendance will be high, the Christian Education Center (COC) reports in a press release.

“While it was initially hoped for 1,000 demonstrators spread across five provinces, 2,000 demonstrators are now expected in Antwerp alone,” says Koen Van Kerkhoven, secretary general of the COC. ‘That is unprecedented. And the counters don’t stand still.’ The demonstrators are largely teachers, but also staff from CLBs and learning support centers, according to Van Kerkhoven.

The consequences for education in Antwerp will be significant, it sounds. But it is unclear exactly how great the disruption will be and which schools will be affected. Teachers who want to participate in the protests do not have to announce this in advance, which means that both the umbrella organizations and individual school groups are sailing blind.

After Antwerp, actions will follow in Ostend – on Wednesday, May 8 at 10 a.m. on Sint-Petrus-en-Paulusplein – and Leuven, on Monday, May 13 at 10 a.m. on Martelarenplein. On Tuesday, May 14 at 1 p.m. there will be a demonstration on the Molenpoortplein in Hasselt, and on Wednesday, May 15 at 10 a.m. in the Citadelpark in Ghent.

The education unions are opposed to the report of the Committee of Wise Men. At the end of last year, this group of experts, teachers and school directors launched 70 proposals to tackle the teacher shortage and improve the quality of education. This includes the abolition of some benefits of permanent appointment and the introduction of a 38-hour week.

When the report was presented in December, the unions already expressed their dissatisfaction with the measures, which they claimed were ‘fantasies, ill-considered measures and recipes from the past’. This week they are moving up a gear in the hope of sending a clear signal just before the elections.