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COSTA RICA |
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Almost Vacation As Teachers Strike Looms
Tuesday, Assembly Meeting For Balance of
Week
More than 500.000 students may be on
vacation most of next week if teachers
decide to strike, a decision that could come
on Tuesday, the day before a general
assembly meeting of the largets of the
teachers union, the Asociación Nacional de
Educadores (ANDE).
It is possible that schools will be open
only on Monday, as teachers may walk off the
job after their meeting on Tuesday.
The reason for the possible walk out? The
same problem that has been plaguing teachers
for years, problems with receiving their "percentil
45" payment.
The ANDE national assembly that begins on
Wednesday and runs until Saturday has some
50.000 teachers from all over the country
invited to attend. However, it is not
mandatory for all to attend, according to
Alexánder Ovares, president of ANDE.
Ovares added that a strike action is
scheduled for Tuesday and the rest of the
week there are no classes due to the
assembly meeting.
Silvia Víquez, viceministra de Educación
Pública, explained that the Tuesday strike
action does not affect the 200 day school
calendar year. The three days of Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday, were are already
included in the school calendar year.
Víquez added that the call to strike by the
teachers is not justified, as the "percentil
45" pay has already been made.
The vice-ministra is asking parents to take
advantage of the school break to spend time
with their children to go over lessons from
the year and especially in subjects where
their children are having problems.
The ANDE teachers union grew out of the need
of teachers facing problems with their pay
from the ministerio de Educación Pública (MEP),
that has been ongoing for decades.
The union was created 60 years ago and for
the last couple of decades has been a main
source of bridge financing for teachers with
problems with receiving their pay in part or
full, to meet their living expenses.
The ANDE is the largest and most powerful of
the teachers unions.
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