Great willingness to strike requires a lot of organization to deal with everything

READ ALSO. POINT OF VIEW. Protesting against proposals that no party has yet done anything with remains strange, but the unrest among teachers is sincerely

Half of the seventy urban primary schools in the city of Antwerp experienced serious disruption on Tuesday due to striking teachers. “That is why nursery or primary sections in schools have remained closed. Twelve primary schools have remained completely closed,” says Sofie De Keyser of Antwerp City Education.

“Half of the exceptional schools were also closed. In secondary education, more than a quarter of the teachers in five of the sixteen schools have struck, resulting in one school remaining closed. All schools have provided childcare, but in most cases the students have stayed at home.”

There was less willingness to strike in the Catholic Education schools in Antwerp. “There has been no strike with us, the COV (Christian Teachers’ Association, ed.) does not participate,” says Hilde Hendrickx of De Zevensprong in Borgerhout. “We want to give the reform of education policy every opportunity and not focus on elements that seem less good.”

At the Xaverius College in Borgerhout, a limited number of teachers did not show up. “They gave their students assignments, so there was no problem,” says director Joos Van Goethem. “When teachers take to the streets, it is a powerful signal. Other than that I have little to add.”

Distance learning

There were no strikes in the primary schools of the Holy Sepulcher in Turnhout. In secondary schools, 12 of the 430 staff members did not show up. “We solved this partly by giving students study time, partly by having non-striking teachers take over classes,” says general director Hilde Robrechts.

“It is strange that there are strikes against proposals, some of which are very good, by the way. It is evident that the work assignment of teachers is no longer expressed in teaching hours, but in working weeks, as in other professions. I doubt whether this means that teachers will have to be permanently present at school for 38 hours from now on. That would not be a good thing, but let us work together constructively instead of magnifying certain elements of the report.”

READ ALSO. 3,500 teachers protest against education report: “A 38-hour week? Then our school will be empty”

Karin Heremans, director of the Go! Royal Athenaeum Antwerp does not understand the strikers. “The Flemish tests took place in our school on Tuesday. This was achieved, despite sixteen striking teachers. But why strike at the end of a legislature against advice on which nothing has yet been decided? I call this panic football. We must, together with the unions, reform the statute of the teacher. The water is on everyone’s lips.

At the Busleyden Atheneum Campus Caputsteen, forty out of a hundred teachers have struck. “Due to the large numbers, we switched to distance learning on Tuesday and care was available,” says director Katie Steemans.

“Everything went smoothly, only two students showed up at the shelter. I myself stopped for a symbolic hour. The way education has been handled is not sensible. And the proposals that have been made may have sounded good in the media, but that is a far cry from a real approach to the task load in education. We need to listen more to the grassroots.”

Wesley Wouters, director of Talent School Turnhout, has also noticed more willingness to strike than usual. “Nevertheless, most lessons proceeded almost normally, some students started later or finished earlier and some distance learning was used.”

Normal class day

It was a normal teaching day at the Sacred Heart of Mary in Berlaar, despite the fact that about a quarter of the 165 teachers were on strike. “Thanks to many hours of planning by a colleague from the secretariat, we succeeded,” says director Tine Verloy.

“Some teachers were willing to take over classes, other class groups came to school in a staggered manner so as not to overcrowd the study rooms. I have not stopped because this report says nothing about what really awaits us. This will only become clear when there is a new government. But striking is a right, so I don’t judge other people’s motivation.”