“Congratulations teachers and dear pupils,” wrote Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli on Facebook on Friday morning, marking an end to the three-week-long strike of teachers and staff across the whole education system in Kosovo.

The post came after a meeting between Veseli, Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and head of the Union of Education, Culture and Science of Kosovo, SBAShK, Rrahman Jasharaj, which was held on Friday morning.

“As the leaders of our institutions claimed, the new agreement has brought us closer to our demands, so congratulations to all, the school year will commence on Monday,” said Jasharaj.

However, the first reactions of SBAShK following the meeting were unclear. Vjollca Shala, the deputy head of SBAShK, denied the claims made by the Kosovo leaders that the meeting had resulted in an end to the strikes.

“As for now, there is no deal reached, and the moment that we reach an agreement, we will release a communique,” said Shala to BIRN.

SBAShK’s strike has been in place since January 14, demanding increase of coefficient of the salary up to 30 per cent from the Kosovo Government, who planned to send the revised version of the Draft Law on Public Sector Salaries to the Assembly for approval without meeting the demands of the union.

A vote on the Law on Public Sector Salaries will take place on Saturday during a session at the Kosovo Assembly.  For the draft law to pass at the Assembly it requires a simple majority, meaning half of MPs present must vote in favor of the law.

Haradinaj also confirmed the ‘deal’ with SBAShK, but without providing further details as to whether the demands of SBAShK were fulfilled. “Our dialogue will continue in the spirit of improvement of the educational system in our country,” Haradinaj added.

Around 500,000 thousand elementary, secondary and university students have been affected by the strikes in the last three weeks.