Eleven trade unions and civil organisations in other sectors have joined as well, which Tóbiás said clearly shows that the issue concerns more than the situation in public education.

The LMP party said schools serve the future generations and not the government, and called on the cabinet to handle Hungarian educational institutions in that spirit. Máté Kanász- Nagy, party spokesman for youth affairs, said the government failed to understand at all any of the events that surrounded the issue of education in the recent past.

The Democratic Coalition (DK) expressed solidarity with the teachers and welcomed their “nationwide” strike which shows that the Orbán government “cannot go against the will of Hungarians any longer and kidnap their future”. The party called on the government to stop threatening teachers who participated in the strike.

The Együtt (Together) party said the government “tries to mislead” teachers by “lying” to them when pledging to provide 100 billion forints in central funding for public education, promising teachers broader freedom in setting the curriculum and school directors broader scope of financial management.

It was unacceptable that some mayors for ruling Fidesz “threatened” teachers who participated in the strike with legal consequences in their employment, a party official said. Ruling Fidesz said in response that the majority of teachers realised that they have been used by the opposition for political purposes which is why only one-fifth of them joined the strike.

The party said that while the previous Socialist governments had reduced public education funding and cut teachers’ wages, the Fidesz government continued to increase funding, took over managing schools and implemented the largest wage increase for teachers so far.

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MTI photo: Bruzák Noémi