Sivro sends open letter to Kazazović: Minister, your life is Switzerland, ours is survival

The president of the Trade Union of Primary Education and Upbringing of Sarajevo Canton, Saudin Sivro, sent an open letter to the Minister of Education of Sarajevo Canton, Elvir Kazazović, reports the Patria news agency.  

-Dear Minister, on 22.08.2016, we sent you a very well-intentioned letter with a very clear title, "We are not scribes, we are teachers". Instead of a quality written response, on 25.08.2016, we received a short and incorrect statement, published by the FENA agency, in which you said that "Teachers and professors in this canton have the lowest hourly norms compared to the region and EU countries, and this is a clear indicator of the situation," said Kazazović, emphasizing that the lowest hourly norm for teachers in Switzerland is 26, and in Sarajevo from 18 to 20 hours.

Our Minister, if you have come to head the largest department in Sarajevo Canton to belittle the goodwill and outstretched hand of educators, or for educators to serve you for free, and not the other way around, then you have made a mistake and it is time to think carefully about what you are doing and what you are saying.

Let us remind you, our Minister, that the salaries of educators in Sarajevo Canton are below the average for Sarajevo Canton, and since the draft budget of Sarajevo Canton is being prepared, we expect you to propose a 10% salary increase, in accordance with the conclusion of the Assembly of the BiH Trade Union of Primary Education and Upbringing - Cantonal Board of Sarajevo Canton Trade Union of Primary Education and Upbringing?!

When you mention Swiss norms, you forget that in that country, the salary of educators is 25% higher than the average salary in Switzerland, and annually, an educator in Switzerland earns around 115,000 KM, which is 10 more than in Sarajevo Canton. Our Minister, we will not talk about the working conditions in Swiss schools, but we will warn you that you should improve working conditions in schools by increasing the budget for education, not through savings that are currently being made at the expense of students and educators.

Dear Minister, the part of your statement in which you state that the teaching norm in Sarajevo Canton ranges from 18 to 20 hours is interesting. Essentially, we are not surprised by your lack of knowledge of basic things, considering that you have "unprofessional" associates, "inquisitors" as advisors, and a director who does not know that nine-year compulsory education was introduced more than a decade ago.

Our Minister, the norm ranges from 18 to 21 hours.

Our Minister, we would all like our lives to be Switzerland, but that is impossible in a Canton where the minister believes: that it is possible to compare Sarajevo Canton and Switzerland, that the teacher's norm should be 26 or more teaching hours, that it is possible to work with quality with 36 or more students, that we have surplus living people and that they can be replaced by some kind of technology, that he is not responsible and persistently refuses to dismiss those who break the law.

Our Minister, your life may be Switzerland, because you are only there for four years, while educators have been in schools for 40 years, educating and raising generations of young and smart people, Sivro's open letter states.