Students staged the second protest rally in the last two months this week after talks with the government on a list of demands aimed at preserving and improving the students' social status broke down. Miha Ulcar, the head of the Slovenian Student Organisation (SOS), said at the 24 May protest that students in the country are ready for dialogue or a fight with the government over student rights.
The list of student demands includes a dozen items, but the negotiations stumbled over the amount of work a student can do in a year. While the government wanted to limit student work to 120 days a year, the students were against any quota. Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Jure Zupan expressed his regret that after the failed talks "the students have turned down the last offer" and called on them to reconsider their decision to protest since the "government has yielded a lot."
Although the students received support from trade unions as well as President Janez Drnovsek, they faced harsh criticism from the youth wings of the coalition parties. Moreover, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said that fresh talks between the government and SOS could take place only after SOS gets a legitimate leadership. According to him, the term of the current leadership has run out and student officials who were involved in talks with the government abused their position for campaigning purposes.
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