General

Tens of thousands of strikers across the country

A hidden city center of Amsterdam, three marches that converge in De Kuip, a cheerful affair in a pop-up classroom in The Hague. No one can ignore it today: education is on strike. And tomorrow too. "It is actually very sad that this is necessary."

Tekst Redactie Onderwijsblad - 30 januari 2020 - 5 Minuten om te lezen

photo: Fred van Diem

With more than fifteen thousand strikers, teachers, support staff and school leaders from primary, secondary and special education have taken over the center of Amsterdam for a while. A better salary and less work pressure is what they want.

Like the ghetto blasters of the red support car during the march from Dam Square through the city the song Blood Sweat and tears by André Hazes, the strikers sing along. This song is about them. The banners go up a bit more and the procession moves through the city center in a long string.

From my team there are four colleagues with a burnout

Lies Witvliet, special education teacher at the Martin Luther King School in Hoorn, is holding a golden painting with the text 'Education stressful? I am 24 and I feel fine '. “This text is meant to be sarcastic,” she says. “It's stressful. There are four colleagues from my team with a burnout. I start at half past seven in the morning and you continue until half past two without a break. ”

Mother Lisa van der Winden walks with her daughter Ayla. “I think it is important that there are also parents. After all, it's about our children. The teachers really don't do this for themselves, they are not money grubbers. ”

Incidental money is one slob. It's too little and too late

Just before the march starts, presenter Dolf Janssen talks about a 'Slobje' on the flooded Dam Square. “Incidental money is a 'Slobje'. It is too little and too late. ”

The Hague

Teaching takes place at the Hofplaats in The Hague, 43 meters from the Ministry of Education. Not at school, but in a pop-up class. Here, Meester Jesper teaches music to children from nearby schools this morning in a small glass building, decorated with some of the more than XNUMX drawings of children's hands that the magazine has published. Parents of Now as a form of protest. “It is a pity”, says editor-in-chief Hilde Tholen, that neither the minister nor anyone else from the ministry has time to receive those signatures today.

If it continues like this, it won't be long before we have to send children home

Jozine, mother of Bjarne (10) and Loeke (8), dances with her children outside the glass building. She trained as a physical education teacher in The Hague 25 years ago and recently started working two days a week again as a PE teacher at the Rotterdam school 't Landje. "We can still manage now, but if it continues like this, it will not be long before we have to send children home."

I Ice Good Education

At the end of the morning, a little further on in The Hague, on the Lange Voorhout, a procession of almost a hundred meters long has gathered. 'I Ice Goet Education' is written on a banner. MPs Paul van Meenen (D66) and Peter Kwint (SP) reap a lukewarm applause when they enter the stage. Rosalinde Stins, AOblead driver and teaching assistant, advocates a higher salary for her fellow supporters. Tomorrow the AOb together with CNV Education and #oopdoetookmee een meeting especially for supporters organized in Utrecht between 14.00 and 16.00 pm.

Rotterdam

“Turn a problem into an opportunity”, says Berthold Gunster, the founder of Omthinking, to the ten thousand strikers in the Rotterdam Kuip. But solving the teacher shortage turns out to be too difficult a job. “We are not a Tita Wizard movement.”

Comedian and writer Kees van Amstel has his own tip for solving the teacher shortage. “The person who looks after my money gets four times as much salary as the person who looks after my child. That should change. ”

Give us a lower workload, smaller classes, enough colleagues and a good salary

“Minister Slob said in the newspaper this morning that he is 'not much into the strike'”, says French teacher and AOb-main driver Kim van Strien. “Well, neither do we. We prefer to be in front of the class than in De Kuip. But the minister leaves us no choice. Give us a lower workload, smaller classes, enough colleagues and a good salary.”

Groningen

In Groningen, at least five thousand people go in an impressive silent march through the city center, from the Vismarkt to the Vismarkt, where AObchairman Eugenie Stolk addresses the crowd. “It's actually very sad that this is necessary,” she says. “We are on strike so that your teachers, supporters and administrators can do your work well. And we will continue until real money comes. It cannot be the case that 250 thousand students will soon have a less good future. "

Maastricht and Middelburg

In Maastricht, more than two thousand people gather on the Plein. In one act, teachers from the Stella Mariscollege literally show what happens when you have to keep too many balls in the air: they fall.

The procession in Middelburg is slightly different than planned because there are film recordings in the city, but the atmosphere is no less: almost five hundred committed educational people gather at the Abdijplein.

Zutphen

A long procession marches through Zutphen - the estimated attendance is close to five thousand. On the way, residents give their thumbs up from behind their room windows. Smaller classes, teachers Inge Haggenburg (visual arts and ckv) and Tjeerd Mombarg (geography) from the Beekdal Lyceum in Arnhem are on strike. “You can't give everyone the attention you want in a class of 32 students,” says Haggenburg. "As a teacher you want to guide your students well, follow their development, well: how then, when?" Education does not have to count on new investments from the current cabinet, they have read. “It is cowardly to pass it on to the next cabinet,” Haggenburg responds. “It should have happened ten years ago,” adds Mombarg.

Supporters are forgotten too quickly. They are indispensable at school

Teacher Madzy van Iperen from sbo de Driemaster in Dronten and her colleagues are also there. It is not the first time that they have been campaigning and they have never hesitated. The school is closed today and tomorrow. The teacher shortage is breaking up education, she says. "As a result, groups are sent home or divided among other classes." Tackling the workload is therefore a major priority. And the support staff, she emphasizes. “Supporters are too quickly forgotten. They are indispensable at school. ”