Teachers protest on fifth day of strikes to urge changes in education sector
Almost 8.5% of school staff in Catalonia go on strike, according to ministry figures
Teachers, students, and school staff have demonstrated on Wednesday for the fifth day of strikes in Catalonia against changes to the education sector.
The Catalan government intends to change the academic year, as well as the school curriculum, prompting teachers to go on strike for the fifth day in March, after another massive rally on Tuesday.
In Barcelona, a few thousand fought through the rain to go from Plaça Universitat square, in the city center to Plaça de Sant Jaume square, home to the Catalan government headquarters.
Chanting for the education minister, Josep Gonzàlez-Cambray, to resign and for the administration to negotiate with them.
According to figures released by the ministry, only 8.44% of school staff in Catalonia have gone on strike.
On Wednesday, education unions warned that they will only negotiate on Thursday if the education ministry offers them a good deal.
What are these protests about?
Teachers' unions are against the announced changes to the school curriculum, which include reducing hours of instruction of certain subjects, a greater focus on language learning and the development of technological skills, and modifying the grading scale, as well as starting the academic year a week earlier than usual.
And even though Cambray has stated that schools in Catalonia will not have to implement curriculum changes next academic year if they do not want to, this has not been enough to appease unions, who call out what they describe as the government's "deceit" following an unsuccessful round of talks with authorities.
Protesters are in favor of increased funding for public services and maintain the issue "is not about 5 vacation days" that would be lost if the academic year were to start a week earlier than usual, but rather about "10 years of budget cuts," and want to reduce the number of teaching hours per teacher to pre-2012 austerity measure levels.
They also say the Catalan language immersion system must be protected despite the Supreme Court ruling imposing a 25% Spanish language quota, with some arguing the bill backed by Esquerra, Catalunya en Comú, and the Socialists to protect the long-standing policy is insufficient.
The education department, meanwhile, says that they do not have the budget to meet each and every one of the unions' demands at once.