Catalan teachers begin a new week of strike at the doorstep of the signing of the Generalitat’s Budgets and the new negotiation table to unblock the educational conflict. This Monday, the teachers chose not to block access to Barcelona – the strike days began with road blockades – and opted for a striking and equally impactful action: the blockade of the Sagrada Familia. A group of several dozen teachers stood at the entrance to the monument on Marina street, preventing visitors from entering.
This Monday marks the start of the second week of the teachers’ strike, which affects those in the Barcelonès region, including those in the Catalan capital. This week, all the strike days called affect different territories, while Wednesday is focused on nurseries.
The protests continue while in political offices the signing of the Generalitat’s Budgets is being finalized, which should help unblock the conflict, as the Government will have more resources and the argument that there is no money to increase teachers’ salaries would no longer be valid. At the same time, the Government and unions will sit at the table again this week to try to unblock the educational conflict, after last Thursday’s meeting ended without an agreement.
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The teachers’ discontent is palpable in much of Spain. A year ago, the fire broke out in Asturias. And the strikes and demonstrations are now turning the end of the school year upside down in Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and, to a lesser extent, Aragon and the Community of Madrid. The common thread connecting the mobilizations is the frustration with the state of public education. Besides salary, there are other common reasons in the educational protests in the four territories, such as the high student-to-class ratios or the condition of school facilities, many of which are old and not well air-conditioned. And, in general, the pressure experienced by public education, which is disproportionately absorbing the increase in student diversity without a parallel increase in resources to support it, according to unions.
