Monday marked the first day of an indefinite walkout among teachers in the eastern Spanish region, and there are more protests planned this week. Here’s what parents in Valencia, Alicante and Castellón need to know about the teachers’ strikes.
A total of 78,000 teachers working in preschool, primary, secondary, high school, and vocational training have been called to strike in the region, protesting the situation in the public education system.
This comes months of futile negotiations between the government and the workers’ unions.
According to unions, the number of teachers and other educators who participated in the first strike day was between 80 to 90 percent, while the Regional Ministry of Education put the figure at slightly over half (50.3 percent).
Teachers gathered to demonstrate in Valencia, Alicante, Elche, and Castellón with 20,000 attendees in the regional capital, according to data from the local government.
In Alicante, national police estimated some 12,000 people participated, while in Castellón just over 5,000 people joined the protest, and in Elche the number was around 2,800.
Some students turned up to class if they had particularly important days such as exams, but otherwise schools remained mostly empty.
Teachers are demanding salary increases, reduced student-teacher ratios, less bureaucracy, respect for the Valencian language in education, and a plan for air conditioning in schools.
Educational workers in the region currently have between 23 and 25 students, including children with special needs.
“The ideal ratio would be 18 students per class, or the possibility of co-teaching, that is, having two teachers in the classroom,” the unions state.
They are also demanding more specialists in therapeutic pedagogy, speech and language therapy, and educational guidance, since students with special needs “should receive five hours of support per week, but often only get one to three, and even then, it has to be shared”.
Minimum services directed by local government are being appealed at the High Court of Justice of Valencia because they are “excessive.”
On Tuesday May 12th, sit-ins are planned at various education centres, while on Wednesday, May 13th, demonstrations are scheduled for noon outside the Palau de la Generalitat and the regional government delegations, such as the Casa de las Brujas in Alicante and the Casa de los Caracoles in Castellón.
On Thursday May 14th, protests will concentrate outside the Ministry of Education and the provincial Territorial Directorates. Then on Friday, May 15th, a “large unitary demonstration” is planned in Valencia city starting from Plaza de San Agustín at noon.
The regional Minister of Education, Carmen Ortí, told regional television channel À Punt that she is maintaining open lines of communication with the unions and that the government’s intention is to reach agreements.
According to her, the next meeting with the unions was scheduled for June 9th but she wants to reconvene “as soon as possible”.
If the strike continues, it could affect just over half a million students.
