“We agreed that we will meet next week, that the Ministry of Education will have a more detailed overview of how it looks with the PHmaxes in individual fields and where a compromise will be sought,” said Dobšík.
The Ministry of Education has prepared a proposal that is in the comment procedure. “We would prefer the Ministry of Education to withdraw it, but it is contrasted with the fact that, given that it is linked to next year’s state budget, it has to be done,” he added.
The PHmax value represents the maximum weekly number of teaching hours in the scope of the framework educational program financed from the state budget.
According to the unions, the proposal may threaten the quality of education and worsen conditions for schools and school facilities.
According to Bek, the reduction and modification of PHmaxes is one of the ways to slow down the increase in the number of jobs in education. According to Bek, the increase in the number of positions is an issue that must be resolved if teacher salaries are to increase next year and if funding cuts to non-teaching staff are to be avoided. According to him, 40,000 new salary positions have been added in the Ministry of Education over the past five years.
According to the proposed budget, the Ministry of Education should have 269 billion crowns for expenses next year. Compared to this year, it is 3.9 billion crowns more. According to Bek, the department has been promised another four billion from the state budget reserve, which education should receive at the beginning of the year.
On Tuesday, the school unions decided that on November 27, an all-day warning strike of primary, secondary and kindergarten schools will take place. Instructions for the strike preparation process and drafts of the necessary documents will be distributed by the trade unions to individual organizations on Friday.
Unionists are seeking more money for education next year. They have already criticized the fact that the volume of money for the earnings of non-teaching staff in education should drop by two percent – that is, for example, cooks, housekeepers and school economists, school psychologists or IT workers.
According to Dobšík, negotiations will take place. According to him, schools should be perceived as a whole, not separately for teaching and non-teaching staff. “It is possible that a compromise will be reached. As my predecessor said, the best and most successful strike is the one that doesn’t have to happen,” he concluded.
