10,000 march in Warsaw schools, rights protest

Warsaw, March 18: Thousands of teachers and minority rights activists marched through driving rain in Warsaw to protest against low wages and demand the resignation of far-right Education Minister Roman Giertych.

Many teachers in Poland are paid only half the national average wage and unions say the five-percent pay rise agreed by ministers still leaves young teachers living on the breadline.

Giertych, the leader of a small ultra-conservative Catholic nationalist party in the ruling coalition, has also angered unions, and been rebuked by the European Commission, for his anti-gay rhetoric and hard line on abortion and social issues.

''He is not someone who should be in charge of educating anyone in this century,'' said one secondary school teacher at the march yesterday, asking not to be named.

''Wages are so low that it is difficult for anyone to start as a teacher in a state school now. Things are bad enough without the type of views held by the minister.'' Giertych's deputy angered unions and human rights groups this week with proposals to sack teachers who ''promote homosexuality'', despite his claims that it was not aimed against gay teachers.

''We will finish a law which will introduce a ban on promoting homosexuality in schools within a month,'' Deputy Minister Miroslaw Orzechowski said. ''A person who promotes this and other deviations will be punished.'' Poland's ruling twins, President Lech Kaczynski and his brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, have been criticised for tolerating the party's anti-gay remarks despite efforts to distance themselves from Giertych.

Lech Kaczynski, who was previously mayor of Warsaw, also banned gay pride parades in the capital, arguing that it promotes a homosexual lifestyle alien to the traditional values espoused by the vast majority of 99-percent Catholic Poland.

Monthly wages for young teachers start at around 1,100 zlotys in Poland and the unions are demanding a pay rise of seven-percent this year as well as higher pensions and a re-organising of pay scales to push some salaries higher.

The teachers' union has said they are willing to strike if their demands are not met. Police and organisers said up to 11,000 people joined the march.

Reuters