The bath of reality that we have received with the educational suspension of the PISA report was necessary. This cold shower has suddenly woken us up and shown us naked, without make-up or disguises. We have been fooling ourselves for a long time, and for that it is good to be put in front of the mirror. The first step in trying to solve this disaster is to know the truth of what is going on. In this way, it is easier to find the remedy. Until now we responded to criticism by proclaiming the excellence of our education system. The same thing happened to us with the pandemic, which put our “model” healthcare system on the ropes. But, unlike the unpredictable covid epidemic, the poor school result is the result of the inability to manage in the medium and long term.
Let’s make things clear. If when we spoke out in favor of being a welcoming country (remember the “We want to welcome” campaign six years ago that filled the Palau Sant Jordi) we had prepared to receive all the new arrivals under conditions, they would be like a other bread But we didn’t do it and the motto of “We want to welcome” has been transformed into “We don’t know how to welcome”. Immigration can be an opportunity or a problem, depending on how it is managed. And, seeing what the Generalitat itself already admits bluntly, it has become a school slab because the means have not been put in place to attend to this immigrant population in schools which, on the other hand, we need to alleviate the very low birth rate and the accelerated aging of our society.
We can’t be surprised. As the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, said, “there are no excuses”. There was a lack of foresight. It also happens with drought. If massive and sustained rain doesn’t solve it, boatloads of water will arrive before spring, while unprecedented restrictions will be announced. The Government would do well not to emphasize family water expenditure because citizens have been behaving responsibly for a long time. It can be seen in the consumption data in Barcelona, ??historically far below what is now allowed. Unloading on the citizens the responsibility for the lack of government foresight can light the fuse of the protest. The citizen is not to blame for the lack of investment or for the fact that debates such as the interconnection of hydrographic basins have not been seriously addressed due to electoral fear. And now, no matter how fast we run, we won’t make it in time.
Meanwhile, the opposition stirs up weaknesses. “Without water, in the dark and the children don’t know how to read, write or add”, said the leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, after seeing the results of the PISA report. And then, he demanded that the Government comply with what was agreed a year ago (B-40, Hard Rock and the airport), which has nothing to do with education or the drought. We are entering the electoral period in Catalonia and this does not help to face the problems with serenity and consensus.
