The first major protest against the government chaired by Carlos Mazón will coincide with the start of the campaign for the European elections. The traditional (and increasingly less supported) hanging of posters will be preceded by a mobilization against the “regressive” policies in education of the executive made up of PP and Vox, which unions, teachers, students and associations accuse of attacking public education .
The European elections will be a good thermometer to measure the acceptance of the first year of management of the new government whose agreement coincides almost on the exact day of the votes for the European Parliament.
In total, according to the figures provided by the Ministry of Education, just over 80,000 teachers are called to strike as well as 800,000 students in primary, secondary, high school, vocational training and spatial education, although as students (without permission from legal guardians). ) can only strike from 3rd year of ESO.
The call for the strike, promoted by the Platform in Defense of Public Education – which brings together teachers, associations of mothers and fathers and students – yesterday heated up (even more) the political scene at the gates of the 9- J. Thus, the four parties positioned themselves for or against the call without any surprise.
In line with what was expressed the previous day by the Minister of Education, José Antonio Rovira, who described the strike as political, the PP spokesperson in Les Corts, Miguel Barrachina, stressed that his party “respects the right to strike and to demonstration, even though the start day of the only electoral campaign that will take place in the next 3 years has been chosen and even though it was during exam time and to the detriment of children.”
Likewise, his Vox counterpart in the regional Chamber, José María Llanos, described the call as “indoctrination again in the classrooms” and blamed “some unions that were saddened and taken to the streets by Compromís and by the PSPV.” Having lost their perks, they are nervous and want to get involved in the European election campaign. Both parties defended the Consell’s management in educational matters and the processing of the educational freedom law, one of the reasons that led to the call.
The Platform for Public Education considers that the future regulations are a fundamental attack on the learning of Valencian. Furthermore, among the motivations for the call is the rejection of “the cuts to the budgets allocated to the rehabilitation and construction of public study centers and to demand immediate solutions to the infrastructure and overcrowding problems that we suffer in the public study centers of the entire Valencian Community.”
The conveners also ask for “the necessary resources for true educational inclusion; improving the working and salary conditions of education workers; the reduction of teaching hours for teachers over 55 years of age; the suppression of bureaucracy; the increase in staff and a general drop in ratios; and put an end to crowding, aggression and conflict.”
These arguments are supported by the parliamentary opposition. The PSPV ombudsman, José Muñoz, applauded that the strike defends public education, which he understands is threatened “as always when the right governs.” Muñoz regretted that at the head of Valencian education there is a councilor who is “an arsonist firefighter, who does not accept any type of criticism and who only knows confrontation as a political argument.”
For his part, Compromís spokesperson, Joan Baldoví, also highlighted the figure of Rovira, whom he described as “the worst Minister of Education in the entire democratic history of this country.” According to the nationalist ombudsman, the Minister of Education “has achieved unanimity: to put the entire educational sector on a war footing in less than a year.”
