The „Hour of Truth“

The critical lack of resources in the humanities and social sciences faculties is evident in various aspects of their functioning, but above all in the salaries of their staff. For example, at Protestant Theological Faculty, even the rate of pay of a professor does not reach the “minimum decent wage,” and the salaries of lower-ranking teachers and other employees (e.g., in the administration or library) are far below it. At the same time, the average salaries for the same positions at some other faculties of Charles University may be even 100 percent higher than at faculties of humanities. It is also worth noting that even teachers at primary and secondary schools have significantly higher salaries than teachers at humanities faculties, including professors.

The causes of this situation are twofold: First, the Czech Republic’s higher education is underfunded in general, yet the second cause is an unfair distribution of funds within the universities themselves. At Charles University, the latter is regulated by coefficients which were originally intended to reflect material requirements for the education of the different disciplines, but today the value of these coefficients translates directly into the level of salaries paid at the individual faculties. The protesters’ efforts to remedy the situation must therefore be oriented in two directions – at universities, a fairer distribution of resources should be advocated, while the ultimate goal should be an increase of the budget for Czech higher education in general.

The most visible so far were the protest actions called “Hour of Truth” that took place at more than ten Czech faculties on Teachers’ Day on 28 March. The Protestant Theological Faculty hosted a meeting of the academic community with speeches and discussions, Old Testament professor Filip Čapek presented the faculty’s participation in the Tel Moẓa excavations in a block of lectures held at the Faculty of Arts (aimed at illustrating the work in humanities in the 21st century), the theological faculty’s teachers and students participated in a subsequent demonstration and protest march, the faculty unions declared a strike alert.

At the beginning of May, the Czech Government replaced its education minister, and it is not yet clear what position the new minister will take on the situation of the humanities faculties. The protesters are determined to persevere in their struggle for fairer recognition of their work, both towards the government and at the university level. In cooperation with other humanities faculties, the Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University is considering a warning strike in the autumn or filing a lawsuit against the university for unequal treatment. Teachers at the Protestant Theological Faculty and other humanities faculties in the country have long accepted that they do their academic work primarily out of love and interest in the discipline, with the low wages being a necessary cost of working in the beloved field. However, the situation is now so critical that many have to take on other jobs, and there is a real threat of faculties members leaving for other professions, such as secondary and primary school teachers. 

Jan Rückl