A concentration by ELA, LAB, STEILAS and CCOO against the attempt to cover up the pandemic management by the Department of Education of the Autonomous Basque Country

Jun 21, 2021

The Department of Education of the Autonomous Basque Country has acknowledged the effort and work carried out by the workers during this school year, at an event held today in the Odón de Apraiz Centre in Gasteiz. Representatives of the trade unions LAB, STEILAS, ELA and CCOO concentrated there in order to denounce the propagandistic act by the Basque Government and to demand more resources.

The trade unions recalled that the school year started off with strikes and mobilisations, demanding that the Department of Education should adopt the resources and measures necessary to guarantee a safe, negotiated returned to the classrooms. Likewise, the trade unions asked for the reduction in the workloads and ratios, a need that was already urgent prior to this and that had become acute with the pandemic, at the same time as demanding more resources. “The school year is about to end and we can say that today there have been no far-reaching changes in public education, they assured. “Although in the media they have tried to sell the success of the pandemic management in the area of education, the reality has been very different.”

Additionally, they guaranteed that “if it has been possible to carry out the school year in the classrooms, this has been thanks to the work, dedication and physical and emotional overload of the teaching staff. The health and prevention material, as well as the necessary human resources did not arrive in time and any that did arrive was insufficient; the ratios have also not been generally reduced. Therefore, there has been an incredible effort made by the centres to manage the planning and the protocols in the best way possible. We have had to start the academic year with a strike and end it in the same way. The strike called for the 22nd of April for the entire public sector aimed at asking for the creation and consolidation of public employment and demanding an end to privatisation was extensively backed in the public education sector. And the fact is that public education needs more staff and less temporary jobs; a necessity to be able to face up to its challenges, to guarantee quality education. For this reason, the trade unions are asking the Department of Education to put propaganda to one side and in addition to acknowledging the effort made by the workers, to take the necessary steps to find the resources, reduce the ratios, to create and consolidate employment, as needed by the education sector. If these steps are not taken, we will have no other choice than to strengthen and promote new mobilisation dynamics.”