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●● European School The Hague (ESH) Faces a Crisis and Families of EPO Workers Are Harmed Profoundly

Posted in Europe, Patents at 7:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Video download link | md5sum 92c7c5469f07a037d1a5a6640a4b7cebPushing EPO Staff to the Limits Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

http://techrights.org/videos/staff-upset-at-epo.webm

Summary: The European School The Hague (ESH) is not functioning like it’s supposed to; people who migrated (seeking a job) along with family members for an EPO position aren’t pleased (to say the least) and they request if not demand to speak with EPO management

THE EPO‘s staff is not happy. Nothing concrete has changed and nothing is improving. António Campinos continues to break the law and he even refuses to obey court rulings when he loses cases. He’s no better than Benoît Battistelli and he shamelessly promotes illegal software patents while forcing examiners to grant them.

The video above looks at a new letter from the staff union at The Hague. We’re reproducing it below in full:

> Steve Rowan VP1 Office of EPO TH Site manager

> Request for a meeting between VP1 and EPO parents with children at the European School The Hague?

> The SUEPO TH committee has been contacted by European School The Hague (ESH) parents who reported serious problems with the school functioning. In its role of defending the rights of EPO employees, SUEPO is committed to ensuring the quality of the school for employees’ children, which is part of the employment agreement.

> SUEPO has been informed that the ESH schooling and education are facing severe and repeated neglect. The following lists some of the difficulties encountered at the ESH:

> 1. Shortage of teachers. Teachers are overbooked, absent or were simply not recruited. The situation is such that the school has to resort to using teachers from other language sections teaching the class in a language not known to the children. Examples of this are Science lessons taught in English where the language section is German and Mathematic tests given in Dutch to students who do not speak Dutch.

> 2. Inadequate timetables. Some students have blocks of up to 4 consecutive classes in subjects such as French, Italian, Economics. Other students have breaks of several hours between classes. Yet other students don’t have certain classes at all, simply because there is no teacher.

> 3. B-exam: No/ not sufficient preparation for specific mandatory exams as e.g. the B-exam; Rescheduling of the B-exam date.

> 4. ESH is uncapable to manage children with special needs.

> 5. Inadequate understanding of COVID Curfew learning impact and lack of learning catch-up programs.

> 6. A high rate of turnover of staff is reported.

> 7. Lack of administrative and support staff (reception, security, etc.).

> 8. Billing problems, such as the definition of miscellaneous costs.

> The continued existence of these problems is leaving the children who have to pass official school exams already at a severe disadvantage when compared to children at other European Schools. Parents are concerned and have filed complaints with the Dutch Ministry of Education. The situation is so serious that an audit from the overseeing body of the European Schools is expected to take place.

> After several failed attempts before the ESH administration to remediate the situation, the EPO parents approached SUEPO for help. Parents suggested that SUEPO facilitates a meeting with VP1, and are requesting that you listen to their concerns and provide institutional support to solve the various serious problems at ESH.

> Therefore, SUEPO TH acting as a facilitator, hereby requests with a character of urgency, ameeting between the EPO parents with children at the ESH and with you, in your role as site

> “The EPO is in a state of crisis, so it’s masquerading as a for-profit corporation and boasts about nothing but money (raised by flagrantly violating the EPC, which was supposed to guard Europe from a mischievous, misbehaving patent-granting authority).”

This is another problem among many. The staff of the EPO is also leaving rapidly (a “high rate of turnover of staff is reported” inside the EPO, not just ESH) and if this issue persists the EPO won’t be able to attract job candidates in compliance with the EPC. It’s already a longstanding problem and it’ll worsen over time.

The EPO is in a state of crisis, so it’s masquerading as a for-profit corporation and boasts about nothing but money (raised by flagrantly violating the EPC, which was supposed to guard Europe from a mischievous, misbehaving patent-granting authority). █

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● 10.03.22

●● European School The Hague (ESH) Faces a Crisis and Families of EPO Workers Are Harmed Profoundly