Spain: Students To Go on Strike To Demand Safe School Year

Spain’s student union (SE) confirmed that students and teachers will hold a strike on September 16, 17, and 18 to reject the improvisation of the beginning of the school year.

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"The 2020-2021 school year begins amid chaos and with the absence of an effective plan to guarantee our right to a face-to-face public education with safe classrooms," the SE stated.

"Education Minister Isabel Celaa had months to prepare a return to the classrooms in decent conditions but she has done nothing. And the authorities did nothing because they do not want to increase the public education budget, which is tiny compared to the billions received by large companies, banks, or private educational institutions. "

Although the first peak of the pandemic was already reached months ago, the exponential increase in COVID-19 cases is re-emerging in Spain. In the last 24 hours, for example, 2,415 new cases were confirmed.

In this context, the SE spokesperson Coral Latorre said that the students want to restart activities but request that the "disaster" of distance education not be repeated.

Between March and June, Spain replaced face-to-face classes with virtual education. This decision's results, however, were very uneven since thousands of students did not have computer equipment or internet connection.

On September 9 and 10, Spanish students will also take part in all the rallies called by the unions of education teachers and workers, who are requesting security for the resumption of classes and a strengthening of the public education system.

"Privatization policies in education must end... Public jobs must be created... Issues related to educational policy and the design of the curriculum must be addressed," Madrid's Platform for Public School demanded.