Striking teachers to hold Hastings rally

Members of the National Union of Teachers will be on strike across East Sussex.

Teachers will meet at the White Rock Hotel, Hastings, from 10am to hold a rally.

Phil Clarke, NUT National Executive member and a teacher in East Sussex, said: “Teachers are responding in huge numbers to the strike call.

“Over 3,000 new members have joined the union to strike within a few days.

“Funding cuts to education are reaching a critical point with larger class sizes and fewer resources for pupils.

“Rather than wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on force privatising all schools through the academy programme the government should be protecting all teachers terms and conditions and spending the money on children’s education.”

Schools across the area are already announcing they are closing or only opening for a small number of pupils.

The NUT has said the strike is to prevent the ‘complete end to national pay and conditions for teachers that will result from the government’s plans to privatise all schools through forced academisation’.

It is also a dispute over cuts to education funding that the union says are forcing schools to face the worst cuts since the 1970s.

“Parental support for the idea of forcing all schools to become academies, scrapping parent governors and abolishing qualified teacher status is non-existent,” said Mr Clarke.

“There is enough turmoil in Britain already without the government dismantling the state education system and handing it over to private organisations.

“We know schools strikes are difficult for parents and urge the government to change its mind, fund our schools properly and protect teachers contracts to prevent further industrial action.”

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