Democratic Party: Government has the money to meet teachers' claims

The Democratic Party from Moldova (PDM) backs the teachers' protests and asks the Government to seriously consider their claims. The party thinks the Government has money to positively respond to the teachers' claims, Info-Prim Neo reports. PDM's leader Dumitru Diacov told a news conference on Monday the teachers were in a practically unbearable situation. The salary of a beginning teacher hardly goes past 1,000 lei. Dumitru Diacov says the teachers' salaries have not been raised for years, they are only annually indexed. The politician believes the Government will try to delay meeting the teachers' claims only to raise their salaries near the New Year, in a manner more symbolical. Prime deputy president of the Democratic Party, Oleg Serebrian, says the Government's excuse that the salaries cannot be raised because of the floods are “cheap speculations on the account of the drama experienced by thousands of people.” The Government has not incurred big expenditures, since the situation has been redressed not on public money, but from donations from people and companies, Oleg Serebrian explains. He warns unless the Government meets the teachers' demands, the protests could turn into the foreword of wider actions supported by other employees. According to Serebrian, the problems in the higher education are to same degree severe as in the secondary education. The charge of an university lecturer was raised 150 hours, from 550 to 700. “This is actually a scaring task, not covering the so-called pay rise of 200-300 lei,” He says the situation conducts to a dramatic drop in the quality of the education, a reason why university students and professors can star protests this fall. The Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) issued a communique on September 1 in which it announces its solidarity with the protesting teachers and considers their actions to be fully grounded and legitimate. PLDM asks the Government to fully meet the teachers' demands and to treat the education policy as a national priority. “The authorities' refusal to discuss and solve the multiple problems of the education sector, included the ones related to wage rises, proves the Communists' disdainful attitude toward the ones educating the new generation. By this approach the Government compromises the school year and perpetuates tension in teaching staffs,” the communique reads. The education trade unions claim to raise the teachers' salaries by 37% from three to three months, so that their salaries reach the minimum consumer basket till the summer of 2009. They also claim to adopt the Education Code and the Law on the existence minimum.