Thousands join Madrid protest
Students, parents, teachers step up resistance against education cuts
Spaniards, reeling from a gruelling recession, are stepping up their resistance to government cuts to education spending that have led to crowded classes and a huge hike in tuition fees.
Thousands of students, parents and teachers marched along avenues in Madrid yesterday to the education ministry, waving signs and yelling, “We will stop these reforms.”
It was the third day of a strike by students and school pupils, the latest in months of action against budget cuts which the government says are needed to slash Spain’s public deficit.
On Wednesday also thousands of chanting high school and university students marched in dozens of Spanish cities.
“Without education, there is no future,” said one sign held up by a protester in the Spanish capital.
Separately, Spain’s two largest unions were expected today to call a general strike for November 14, the second this year, against spending cuts and tax rises, a union spokeswoman told AFP.
The government has shown no sign of backing down on its economic reforms. Among cuts to various sectors, public spending on education has been slashed by more than a billion euros this year compared with 2011. Public schools employed nearly 3,000 fewer teachers during the 2011-12 academic year, according to the education ministry. “In my class I have eight deaf pupils and I have no support,” said one high school teacher at yesterday’s protest, Teresa Montes, 50. “Until now they had interpreters or support staff, but now there is nothing.”
University fees have doubled in some cases.
“I have two children and the older one was not able to pay the full university fees so he had to enroll just for half the course because we do not have the money,” said another protestor, Ederlina Martin, 54.
“Last year I paid €700 and this year it is €1,300,” said 21-year-old journalism student Laura Ruiz at Wednesday’s protest. “If I don’t get a grant, I won’t be able to continue my studies.”
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government also raised the country’s general value-added tax from September 1 to as much as 21 per cent on some goods, driving up the price of school textbooks.
Spain’s unemployment rate has soared to around 25 per cent following the collapse of a property boom in 2008. The number of students who will receive grants this school year will drop to 344,260 from 923,895 last year, according to education ministry figures.
Other regions have made cuts to the school transport system for primary school pupils.