By: Nina Žoher / Nova24tv
So far, we have been accustomed to KUL harassing where possible, as they cannot come to terms with the fact that they are unable to come to power despite various manoeuvres. Screaming, shouting, pounding on the tables, however, follows when something is not up to their liking. It is like being in a kindergarten. Apparently, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, Igor Zorčič, has now added his own. Namely, after Friday’s meeting of the Committee on Education, Science, Sport and Youth, he announced that the bill on the organisation and financing of education would not be included in the December session because the committee worked after 10 pm, contrary to the board’s decision. SDS MP Mojca Škrinjar describes the decision as harassment and revenge. “It is childish. Mr. Zorčič has obviously stopped to the level of KUL.”
Shortly before 10 pm, Luka Mesec warned NSi chairwoman Iva Dimic that the committee should not meet after 10 pm and stated that he wanted the meeting to be adjourned. Aljaž Kovačič from the LMŠ also pointed out the expectation of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia that the session would be adjourned at 10 pm. Despite protests from the LMŠ and the Levica, the NSi MP continued to vote for the amendments. As Mesec did not like the behaviour of the chairwoman of the committee, he announced that he would demand the dismissal of Dimic from the position of chairwoman of the committee today.
MP Mojca Škrinjar said that she saw the decision, which Igor Zorčič announced via Twitter, as a kind of revenge. Zorčič opposed the extension of the session after 10 pm and they could not follow this. “We were hunting for a date for this law to be discussed on Wednesday. I only see harassment here. That does not seem mature to me,” she was clear.
As a good expert in the field of education (former principal and state secretary at the Ministry of Education), Škrinjar emphasised the need to be aware that this is a really good law, which gives a special place to Slovenian culture and European values in the school system. Moreover, it enables the promotion of assistant educators to titles, which represents the elimination of a long-standing injustice to professionals who were not allowed to advance to titles, whereas all others could.
It is also about the composition of the councils of schools and kindergartens, where the amended article can ensure an even composition of all employees and thus approach the normal practice of the composition of councils as in education. Namely, in all councils, be it healthcare, culture, as well as other areas of education, the founder has the most members in the world (on the board of directors). In schools and kindergartens, the opposite is true, and employees have the most members. “Of course, this is neither good nor proportionate,” she said, adding that the article on records, which is needed to relieve the information system in schools of administrative work, is also important. Both teachers and principals, and at the same time they will no longer have to pay large sums for hiring to have it run by private individuals. “It is inadmissible that parents also have to pay for this,” said Škrinjar. “It is also about data security. Sensitive personal data is now on private servers and this needs to end. This law basically solves that.” According to Škrinjar, all this is being removed by an unreasonable decision of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, which she sees as revenge.
Zorčič at the level of KUL
“It is childish. Mr. Zorčič has obviously stopped to the level of KUL. And in all honestly, I did not really attribute that to him, even though he is not in the coalition. He seemed to me a gentleman above the level of KUL. But now he puts me in doubt,” said MP Škrinjar.
Work until 10 pm is written neither in the Rules of Procedure nor in the law
“Where in the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia is it written that the session of the working body must take place only until 10 pm?” former SDS MP and state secretary for health Jelka Godec criticised the decision of the president of the National Assembly. With this, she drew attention to the fact that the work until 10 pm is written down neither in the law nor in the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly. Zorčič himself explained this when opposition MPs protested at the end of last month against the work of the committee after 10 pm, when the systemic regulation of long-term care was on the table. He said that the 10 pm is determined by the annual work programme of the National Assembly for 2021, which was adopted by the board. “This is neither in the rules of procedure nor in any law.”
“I am one of the first to advocate work until 10 pm, unless it is necessary to receive something at night. Please do not dramatize in the sense that now everything is unconstitutional and illegal because the committee worked after 10 pm. It is not. I also informed myself about that with professional services,” Zorčič said recently. It is more than obvious, then, that work after 10 pm is not legal. Apparently, however, some have such watts, and some have different. Given the immature behaviour of opposition MPs, he recently sent a message that shouting and banging on tables was acceptable, even though this should not have a place in the temple of democracy. The MPs are supposed to be role models.
