Almost 800 Catalan educational centers are mobilizing to suspend outings and camps next school year as a measure of “pressure in response to the situation of the public system.” In total, 783 primary and secondary schools and institutes have joined a campaign that has been spread among families through a communication letter and a web page in which they demand a “dignified and quality public education.” The initiative began at the end of February, with an initial implementation limited to a few dozen school and institute centers, and has quickly spread throughout the territory. The mobilization coincides with a climate of growing unrest in the sector, which faces five consecutive weeks of strikes called by the main unions, as well as criticism of the deployment of the Mossos d’Esquadra in educational centers within a pilot project promoted by the Generalitat’s Department of Education.
The teaching collective, under the slogan Desobeïm Sortides Educatives (Let’s disobey Educational Outings, in Catalan), refuses to organize school outings and camps from the 2026-2027 school year onwards and “until the Administration adopts structural improvements.” The text denounces the overload of teachers with “unpaid extra hours, legal responsibilities over students, and increasing bureaucratization,” and highlights the initiative as a response to what they call the “collapse” of the public system. They do not question the pedagogical value of these activities, but have pointed out that the decision seeks to “make visible the deterioration of working conditions and force a negotiation that guarantees more resources, reduced ratios, and quality inclusive education.”
According to the classification proposed by the mobilization’s web page, Girona leads the adherence with 150 schools and institutes, followed at a distance by Maresme–Vallès Oriental and Penedès, which concentrate the second and third largest number of centers. At an intermediate level are the Education Consortium and territories such as Barcelona, Lleida, and Vallès Occidental, with more than 50 centers each.
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The mobilization of teachers for the suspension of these activities is another front of open protest by the educational sector in Catalonia. The main unions have announced a schedule of mobilizations that will extend for five consecutive weeks, with almost daily strikes starting in May. The call arises as a response to the pact reached between the Generalitat and minority organizations, which the organizers consider “insufficient both in salary improvements and in educational investment and classroom conditions.”
The protests will include general strike days throughout the territory and strikes distributed by zones, aiming to “pressure the Government to reopen negotiations.” In addition to demanding more resources, fewer students per class, and better working conditions, the unions criticize recent measures such as the incorporation of police in educational centers, which they interpret as an inadequate approach to the system’s problems. This Thursday, at least four institutes have requested the Generalitat’s Department of Education to leave this plan, after the rejection by teachers, who have pointed out that the measure is not justified.
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