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Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak
Kinga Rajzak

Kinga Rajzak

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Kinga Rajzak

In 2022, educators in Hungary have protested en masse a plethora of grievances including low wages, ideologically laden and outdated curriculum, grueling working hours and most importantly the government's decision to rescind their right to protest/ go on strike. According to a court ruling teachers can still strike, however need to show up at work and hold classes that de facto defies the real point of protesting.(Basically Orban and co says a "decaf" strike is okay, since it is not a real strike.) As for their low pay, Hungarian teachers are expected to make ends meet on about 500-580 € a month -- a measly sum that remains unchanged for the first ten years of their professional careers. (Median rents in Budapest are btw 400-600€/month; inflation is one of the worst in Europe; some teachers are left with 98€ to live on after paying bills and rent.) Discontent reached a tipping point earlier this year triggering a wave of civil disobedience (doing real strike not the decaf version,hah!) first among Budapest teachers who walked out and abandoned their 'duties', thereby unleashing nationwide protests demanding change. In this short doc I interviewed and spent a morning with one of the most prominent figures of the teachers' movement, Katalin Törley who was fired for her actions. She explains how the movement has grown from being a fringe elite faction to a nationwide constellation of people and ideas, what the fundamental problems are in the nation's education system to what's next.