Sweden’s teachers rage against the budget: Tondöv

Tone deaf and headless.

This is how the Swedish teachers’ union reacts after the government’s budget announcement.

– It is directly disappointing that the government obviously does not understand the situation Sweden’s teachers and schools are facing, says Anna Olskog, chairman of Sweden’s teachers.

Care, school and social care will receive less money in the autumn budget.

The government spends large resources in its budget on lowering taxes – close to SEK 27 billion, which is almost half of the budget reform that was presented.

Rice and praise have come from different quarters.

The Swedish Teachers’ Union believes that the government is passive in its budget and is not close to doing what is needed to stabilize the situation, says Anna Olskog, president of Sweden’s teachers.

– This budget bill sends the signal, and it cannot be interpreted in any other way, than that education is not important for Sweden’s future.

Vårdförbundet critical

Recently, the government and the Sweden Democrats presented the proposal to introduce a ten-year school starting in 2028. This means that the pre-school class for six-year-olds is replaced with a new first grade in primary school.

– They say that they have an initiative that they call a ten-year primary school, that may be good, but it is absolutely nothing that Sweden’s members have asked for.

The Vårdförbundet is also critical of the budget and describes it as a “hard blow to healthcare”. The healthcare association points out that the investments are lower compared to last year.

“Once again, the government comes up with proposals that do not benefit our professional groups to a sufficient extent,” says Vårdförbundet’s president Sineva Ribeiro in a comment and continues:

“Missing investment in healthcare has major gender equality effects. A majority of the employees are women and today many work part-time because they cannot bear to work full-time. Our professions have gone from being healthy to the sickest. These women pay the price with their health and finances.”