Massive turnout of teachers in Zuiderpark in The Hague
In the Zuiderpark in The Hague, the national manifestation has just started at one o'clock for a better salary and less workload in primary education. Tens of thousands of teachers on strike have braved rain and wind to send a clear signal to politicians on Teacher's Day: it is code red.
Picture: Fred van Diem
As the crow flies, a few kilometers from the Binnenhof, the Zuiderpark has been steadily filled with teachers from all over the world for the past hour. Before the departure to The Hague, meetings were held this morning at various locations in the country. In Groningen thousands of teachers attended a well-attended event.
Teachers were on their way to the demonstration in the morning from various schools in the Zuiderpark area. Four teachers from the Islamic primary school Yunus Emre are waiting at a traffic light. Why they strike? "Because of the high workload", is the answer. "And look further at our protest signs." It reads: 'My vocation is to transfer knowledge, may I ask for a fair salary for that.'
Teachers of the Islamic primary school Yunus Emre are also on strike. Photo: Michiel van Nieuwstadt.
Because the schools are closed, several teachers have taken their children.
Juf Elzenburg came from Rijswijk with her son Badr (8 years old). Elzenburg works in special primary education. “The classes are too big and I don't have breaks. I think the workload is an even more important problem than the salary. " Her son Badr says: "Teachers at my school earn as much as teachers at a regular high school." He was in a class with 33 children last year.
Miss Elzenburg took her son Badr (8 years old) to the Zuiderpark. Photo: Michiel van Nieuwstadt.
Mark Merkus from sbo de Poldervaart in Schiedam also brought his twins with him. He does not think that the pledge of roughly half a billion euros that the forming cabinet has made to education. "The gap remains too big."
