Sit-in movement dwindles further as demands shift
The number of schools under occupation by pupils protesting the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic fell further Tuesday, with reports pointing to 200 sit-ins nationwide compared to around 700 last week.
Meanwhile students’ demands are shifting, with a greater emphasis on enduring grievances relating to teacher shortages.
Teachers have also embraced the sit-ins to draw attention to their objections to reforms by the conservative government that will involve the evaluation of educational professionals among other things.
Although the sit-ins are easing off, pupils are planning a protest outside the Education Ministry on Friday. The union representing secondary school teachers, OLME, has backed the sit-ins and protests while also holding work stoppages to protest an Education Ministry decision obliging teachers to mark down students participating in school sit-ins as absent from lessons.
