Thousands of people took to the streets this Thursday in several Valencian cities to defend public schools against the changes and “regressive policies” of the PP and Vox Government. The Valencia march, the largest, ended in front of the Palau de la Generalitat demanding the resignation of the minister of the branch, José Antonio Rovira, shouting “less bullfighting and more education.” The head of the portfolio has described the educational strike, called by the Platform in Defense of Public Educationof “total failure.”
The Platform A month ago, the entire educational community was called to a unitary strike today in the Valencian Community in protest against the law on educational freedom prepared by the regional Executive chaired by Carlos Mazón, a rule that affects the freedom of choice of centerand language and in the reduction of Valencian classes. The native language will be reduced in classes and also on regional television À Punt, they denounce.
The president of the Confederation of AMPA of the Valencian Community Gonzalo Anaya and spokesperson for the Platform in Defense of Public Education, Rubén Pacheco, has harshly criticized the laws presented by PP and Vox “in which public education is directly attacked “, he said in reference to the proposed educational freedom law. The text, he has criticized, creates “the single segregating district, eliminates 206 classrooms in the public school, which will inevitably divert students to the charter school, the loss of teachers and specialistsand closes groups in official language schools.”
“Let’s hope that the regional government reacts. In that sense, we have to be optimistic, realistic, obviously, but optimistic. Let’s hope he reacts and if he doesn’t react, in the coming weeks there may be more,” Pacheco added.
In a tone as protesting as it was festive, the demonstration left at eleven in the morning from the Parterre, in the center of the capital, and during the route slogans could be heard in Valencian such as “More democracy, less bullfighting”, “Valencian, Yeah; cuts, no” or “There are not too many languages, there are too many counselors.” The march stopped for a few minutes in front of the Valencian Parliament, where Rovira’s resignation was demanded. The parliamentary spokespersons José Muñoz, from the PSPV, and Joan Baldoví, from Compromís, have come out to support the educational protest.
In a first assessment (until ten o’clock tomorrow) of the scope of the educational strike, it exceeds 68% of followers in the province of Valencia, according to the organizers. Marc Candela, spokesman for the Union of Teaching Workers of the Valencian Country (STEPV), has urged to wait for the final figures in the afternoon, although he has affirmed that there is “a good follow-up”.
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On the contrary, the Minister of Education has described it as a “total failure”, with a follow-up of less than 20%, and has insisted that it is a “political” action against “the policies that the Government of change is implementing.” . The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, has joked in the Valencian Cortes about the “staff” that has supported the “unitary, unanimous and wonderful” strike in the Education sector. During the parliamentary control session, opposition deputies wore yellow stickers in support of the Education strike.
