Barcelona, Spain, 24 October: An estimated 170,000 students and teachers take to the streets to protest against education cuts and ongoing neoliberal reforms to the public education system. The protest was part of a nationwide strike across the entire system, and was one of 70 separate marches that took place on the day. The turnout in Madrid was even higher, with an estimated 300,000 taking part. The strike was called jointly by teachers’ unions, the ‘Marea Verde’ (green tide) movement against education cuts, and student unions. Apart from highlighting the crisis of public education brought about by years of vicious austerity – with 6.4 billion euros being cut from the education budget and around 70,000 teachers sacked since 2009 – the protesters’ anger was focused on the Government’s misnamed new ‘Law to Improve the Quality of Education’. The law aims to further reshape the education system to fit the demands of big business – tying curriculums more closely to the needs of the labour market, entrenching a two-tiered system in which university study is increasingly only accessible to the wealthiest of students, undermining democratic structures and concentrating power in the hands of school principals, and cutting back grants for poorer students. The mood of the protests was angry – with many students calling for more action, including the possibility of an indefinite student strike along the lines of that which occurred in Quebec in 2012. With the government showing no signs of backing-down, it is likely that further actions will occur in the weeks and months ahead.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 01:07:01 +0000
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