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President Petr Pavel said that he would probably be in favour of lowering the voting age from 18 to 16, as he believes that young people have sufficient knowledge about current affairs in the country and their involvement in deciding elections would not be a security risk. The statement came on Tuesday as the president was in a school in Frýdek-Místek as part of his two-day visit to the Moravian-Silesian Region.

Czechia’s newly incumbent head of state also expressed support for an increase in salaries for academics teaching at philosophical faculties, on the backdrop of Tuesday’s protests by many university teachers on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.

He said that the main issue that the Moravian-Silesian Region is facing is an exodus of young people, which, he believes, does not correspond to the many opportunities and rising quality of life in the north-east of Czechia.

More than 150 historians are critical of what they see as irresponsible management at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, news site Deník N reported on Tuesday. According to the group, it is manly the council of the institute, led by historian and retired colonel Eduard Stehlik that is to blame for what they perceive as a destabilisation of the institute and its takeover by a certain group of people.

The institute’s management has come under criticism several times for different reasons over the past years. Recently a part of the staff accused its recently appointed new director, Ladislav Kudrna, of bossing and censorship.

Protests against low salaries in the humanities and social science sector at universities are taking place in eight cities across Czechia, including the capital, on the occasion of Teachers' Day this Tuesday, Czech Television reports. They want more money from the budget for universities as well as a fairer share of the division of funds into salaries across academic departments. The demonstration is also being supported by the University Trade Union.

Education Minister Vladimír Balaš told journalists on Tuesday that while he understands the protestors’ feelings, he thinks that the problem cannot be solved simply by adding more money from the budget and that universities themselves need to rationalise their operations. He said that he expects to receive a proposal on systemic and strategic changes from universities by April 21.

The issue is also to be discussed between Mr Balaš and Prime Minister Petr Fiala this Tuesday.

The speaker of Czechia’s Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, held a speech to the Parliament in Taiwan on Tuesday as part of her visit to the country, Czech Television reports. In her speech she touched on, among other things, parallels in the histories of the two countries, such as citing the famous sentence uttered by a Czechoslovak Radio broadcaster during the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia: “We are with you, be with us.” She received the highest Taiwanese Parliamentary award from her counterpart You Si-kun.

Mrs Pekarová Adamová, who is leading a Czech delegation of more than a 150, has also met with Taiwan’s president and premier. Her visit follows up on the 2020 trip to the country made by Senate speaker Miloš Vystrčil. Czechia and Taiwan cooperate in several areas, despite not maintaining official diplomatic relations.