Primary, secondary, high schools and universities are called this Tuesday to strike for the cuts that the Government of Spain intends to make in Education. In Lanzarote, for the moment there is no official data on participation in this strike. On the one hand, due to the limited information provided by the unions, which have not even made assessments so far. And on the other hand, because they have not reported on the participation from the Government of the Canary Islands or from the island's Education Department in Lanzarote.
"Many parents have not sent their children to class and high school students have also gone on strike", said the former island director of Education and member of the Assembly of Teachers Isla de Lanzarote, Juan Cruz, who estimates that first thing in the morning there were "more than 100 teachers carrying out this strike".
Cruz, who belongs to this platform created to fight against the Royal Decree that proposes educational cuts, stressed that the mobilization is "at all levels" and "throughout the country". "There are many teachers on strike, although there is no data yet," he said, while saying that in the Tías Institute, where he works as a teacher, "in classes of 30 students there were only 6". "Many students have not gone to schools on their own initiative, because they will also suffer the cuts," he said.
The reasons for this strike are mainly the increase of 20 percent in the ratio of students per class, the increase in teaching hours for teachers, the elimination of the obligation for all institutes to offer the science and humanities baccalaureate, the reduction of scholarships for students and the greater difficulty in accessing them, and the salary of teachers, who on July 1 will suffer a new cut "of 10 percent". "They already reduced it by 5 percent last year," Cruz recalled.
"There are more than enough reasons for this day of mobilization", said Cruz, who does not understand how it is possible that this strike call is not supported by the STEC union, which is the majority in Education in the Canary Islands. "We are surprised that they did not join this call, but we are more surprised by what we have seen in the centers, and is that they have been demobilizing", he indicated.
In the afternoon, at 6:00 p.m., citizens are called to participate in a demonstration, which will start from the Cabildo of Lanzarote and reach the island's Education Department. This march will take place throughout Spain at the same time.
La Voz has tried to speak with the island's director of Education, Florentina Alonso, to find out the data on participation in this strike. However, from the island's management they have indicated that for any information about this strike it is necessary to refer to the Public Function of the Government of the Canary Islands.