The business strike of school transport has affected 4,000 students in Lanzarote, according to the Ministry of Education of the Canary Islands Government, which points out that it is expected that "it will last one day". This Tuesday morning there have been long traffic jams on the island due to the absence of the school bus service.
"As it is a strike by the employers and not a strike by workers, there are no minimum transport services," the Ministry has recalled. On all the islands, the strike has affected 34,000 students.
Likewise, the educational department highlights that "the historical debt acquired by previous governments that the carriers are claiming is a commitment assumed by the Ministry of Education, whose amounts are established in the 2023 budget with an increase of 9 million euros compared to the previous year."
Parents' associations ask that school transport be an essential service
The regional confederation of associations of mothers and fathers of the Canary Islands, CONFAPACanarias, has asked this Monday that the rights of minors to education be guaranteed "considering transport and dining services as essential." Faced with the employers' strike in school transport, this group has urged the parties to "find a definitive solution as soon as possible."
CONFAPACanarias has stressed that due to this strike, more than 37,000 students in the Islands "will not have their fundamental right to education guaranteed because the school transport service they need to get to classrooms is "complementary, as is the case with school canteens."
"Whether it is due to an employers' strike or a staff strike (canteen assistants), we are talking about complementary services, not considered essential, and, therefore, they do not have guaranteed minimum services," he said.
The article 20 of the Canary Islands Education Law establishes that complementary educational services are the instruments through which the principle of equity is made effective and also determines that "complementary educational services are intended to compensate for social and economic inequalities, facilitating access and permanence of students in the educational system in conditions of equity, in addition to contributing to the reconciliation of work and family life," recalls the confederation of ampas.
COFAPACanarias highlights that "it is so basic to be able to access education in conditions of equity, that the regulations oblige public administrations to guarantee the gratuity of these services or the provision of aid for transport, as the case may be."
Therefore, it concludes that "essential services such as access to education, or even the principle of equity, cannot be guaranteed through tools that are not equally declared as essential."
