In his words, the expected participation figures are not bad, considering the efforts made to prevent the protest action.
"The number is sufficient, bearing in mind the efforts to threaten and mislead. The Education and Science Ministry maintains that it does address the issues raised by the trade union, however, they are indeed ignored, while only some teachers believe they are being dealt with. In some cities, mayors and employees of local education divisions said the strikes would not take place. School principals often say the strike would destroy the education process," Jurgelevičius said.
He admits that schools of some municipalities will not participate in the warning strike. However, he refused to name the municipalities. Jurgelevičius said precise information would be available after the protest action.
The timing of the strike is up to individual schools to decide. According to information available to Jurgelevičius, many schools plan to suspend work during the first two classes on Tuesday.
During the congress of the Lithuanian Education Trade Union on 9 February, over 15,000 teachers agreed to hold a two-hour warning strike on 21 February.
The trade union submitted demands to the government and the Education and Science Ministry on 18 January, calling for revision of the school financing scheme, postponing of the planned attestation of teachers, adjusting compensation for labour in a way that it ensures adequate work load.
