Final Word from Monday, November 27, 2023

Labor leader František Dobšík told Právo last week that principals at schools closely involved in inclusion calculated that a proposal from the education ministry would leave them with classes of 25 students, three children with some sort of problem, and Ukrainian children on top of this, but only one teacher and no assistant. If we don't speak up now by protesting, he said, we have no idea what the government will have in store for us later. He and other union leaders are complaining that the Fiala government isn't making education a priority, despite the promise in its policy statement. What many teachers and union leaders sense but don't want to say out loud is that education has become an important component of even higher priorities of the Fiala cabinet - supporting the war in Ukraine and using the situation to enact a policy of irredentism (annexing part of the Ukrainian population). Education is indeed a priority of the Fiala government in that it helps to promote EU and Nato priorities. [ Czech Republic European Union PM Petr Fiala annexation ]