Education minister rejects idea of mass lay-offs

Education Minister Josef Dobeš on Friday rejected the idea of a mass lay-off of teachers as inconceivable and said he had received no such information from the Finance Ministry. According to figures released this week the austerity measures would leave the ministry 15 billion crowns poorer in the next two years. Finance minister Miroslav Kalousek responded to the statement by saying that the broken-down austerity package has been dispatched to every ministry with details of how much money each institution would have to save.