- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
Thousand join Hungary teacher rebellion over 'humiliating' pay
Hungary's failing schools are becoming the focus of swelling protests, with pupils and parents backing teachers sacked for rebelling over "humiliating" low pay and years of government neglect.
With supermarket cashiers paid more than most teachers, thousands have joined the protests since the beginning of September, with human chains formed around schools across the country.
Last Friday students burned letters threatening teachers with dismissal near the Interior Ministry, which has been put in charge of education by nationalist premier Viktor Orban, who restricted the right to strike in February.
Another mass protest is planned for Sunday.
Budapest high school teacher Katalin Torley was sacked along with four of her colleagues last month for refusing to teach classes in protest at low pay and severe restrictions on the curriculum, which critics say is biased toward Orban's conservative and nativist agenda.
Torley, who has taught French for 23 years, told AFP her sacking had been "very painful... Teaching is the most important activity of my life. I am very attached to the pupils."
But after years of unsuccessful lobbying for better conditions, "we've had enough... Kicking us out is a message to the others not to dare do the same," she said.
- Tightly controlled -
Hungarian teachers are the lowest paid of any EU member in the OECD at just 60 of other Hungarian university graduates, according to EU figures.
Primary school salaries start around 170,000 forints (410 euros) a month, rising to a maximum of 396,000 (950 euros) for high school teachers -- about the same as what a supermarket cashier earns.
The government acknowledges that pay is too low. But it has tied a planned rise -- to 80 percent of the average graduate salary by 2025 -- to long-awaited EU funding held up over concerns over Hungary's corruption and slipping democratic standards.
But Torley said a pay hike that barely matches inflation "will not be enough" to quell the protests, pointing to "serious structural problems" in education.
Hungary is already in the grip of a chronic teacher shortage, with few young people joining the profession and 40 percent of teachers aged over 50.
According to the EU, the centralised management of schools also leaves school directors with limited autonomy to improve teaching quality, further eroding morale.
As part of sweeping reforms since Orban returned to power in 2010, locally-run schools were nationalised with a central authority controlling textbooks that teachers must strictly follow.
Critics of the hardline anti-immigration Orban say the curriculum is riddled with ideological bias.
- 'System on its knees' -
The lack of a separate education ministry is symbolic of the government's "criminal neglect" of the sector, according to Szabolcs Kincse, of the PDSZ teachers union.
"The Hungarian education system is not falling apart, it is already on its knees," Kincse told reporters Monday.
Underfunding over the last decade has meant that schools regularly have to ask parents for donations towards basic items like chalk and furniture, he said.
And in international comparisons, Hungarian students perform well below the EU average.
"I want my kids to get something out of the education system before it collapses altogether," an IT worker and father-of-two Daniel Fogaras, 43, told AFP at the demonstration outside the Interior Ministry.
For Akos Bozai, a 17-year-old student, the protests "demonstrate our power to tell the teachers, 'We are standing for you, your rights and a better educational system.'"
But he said success would only come "if teachers continue their civil disobedience and strikes."
O.M.Souza--AMWN