Czech schools closed for a day on Monday as unions staged a strike and a rally to protest austerity measures introduced by the EU member's centre-right government.
The country of 10.5 million people has been reeling from record inflation and Europe's high energy prices aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, the Czech president signed into law an austerity package raising taxes and cutting allowances, subsidies, and wages in the government sector.
Three quarters of Czech schools joined Monday's strike over poor financing and union members and their supporters marched through central Prague.
Michaela Maresova, a production controller from the southern town of Sobeslav, said the government did not "listen to what we want".
"I want things to get back to what they were. Cheaper energy, cheaper food, schools that work, all that we had," she told AFP.
Hundreds of students also held a separate protest in Prague.
"We know how our state budget is doing... but we think schooling is the last segment on which the government should save money," protester Katerina Petkovova told AFP.
But Prime Minister Petr Fiala insisted the austerity steps were necessary.
"We are not ready to back away. If we did, we would give up the future of this country... and we can't do that," he told reporters.
Critics slam his cabinet for poor communication and for providing hefty humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, while Czech living standards decrease.
Heavily dependent on car production and exports to the eurozone, the Czech economy dropped by 0.6 percent annually in the third quarter of 2023, and by 0.3 percent against the previous quarter.
Last week, the International Monetary Fund revised down its forecast for the country, saying it expected an 0.4-percent economic decline this year before 1.2-percent growth in 2024.