This week we have been surprised by the letter of a mother, who, full of anguish and indignation, demanded a place in Vocational Training for her 16-year-old son from the Minister of Education. It is not a unique case. They are ...
This week we have been surprised by the letter of a mother, who, full of anguish and indignation, demanded a place in Vocational Training for her 16-year-old son from the Minister of Education. It is not a unique case. There are thousands of Canarian families who find themselves in these circumstances, with sons and daughters between 16 and 24 years old, wanting to start, improve, or complete their training? and without possibilities, due to lack of places in Intermediate and Higher Level cycles, especially in the health, social services and community, hospitality and tourism, image and sound, and transport and automotive branches.
And to me, like this mother, what strikes me the most is that these families are not heard, we don't know where they are, they don't protest? They are simply bewildered!
The financial crisis, created by the excessive desire for profits of the powerful, has been imposed on us as a collective responsibility, and we have been convinced that those of us who did not create it must pay for it. With everything that is happening! It is the phrase that justifies everything and that prevents any protest movement, any demand for labor and social rights of citizens. They have taken away all possibilities of democratic control (collective bargaining, labor and social rights, reform of the electoral system, of the Constitution?), while they have launched a roadmap for privatization of public services, eliminating resources and commodifying education, culture, health, care?, setting as objective the accumulation of capital, not the needs of people.
In order to achieve this barbarity, it is necessary that silence and resignation be the only response from citizens. And we must recognize that, for now, they have won this battle. Supported by the increase in social control and the information transmitted in the media and accompanied by constant adjustments in the labor market, which cause constant fear of "losing the job", they are deteriorating not only our labor and social rights, but also decent living conditions, bringing to the forefront the search for personal solutions, as opposed to collective ones. They are trying to expropriate us even of the capacity to opine and protest.
The right to education is enshrined in article 27 of the Spanish Constitution, and its interpretation must be carried out in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international treaties and agreements on the same matters ratified by the Spanish State. Its full exercise establishes the right to free compulsory primary education for all children, the obligation of public authorities to offer secondary education, which includes access to vocational and permanent training, accessible to all young people, and equitable access to higher education.
It is evident, therefore, that guaranteeing the exercise of the right to education of citizens through appropriate actions is not a voluntary act of the Ministry of Education and Government in turn, but an unquestionable duty of the public authorities that, at present, in the Canary Islands, is not fulfilled.
And it is not fulfilled in various aspects, many of them related to the resources allocated to public education to offer a quality education. But today I want to refer to the thousands of young people who have not been able to access the Intermediate and Higher Level Cycles of Vocational Training, who are left without a place every year. And who choose, some to enroll in a distant institute, others to change their choice for a second option, and unfortunately the majority, to abandon, waiting for the following year to "try their luck".
Many of these young Canarians who today have been deprived of the right to take these teachings, of the right to education, will go on to swell the statistics of the group of young people between 15 and 24 years old, who neither study nor work. As the mother of the letter says, "neither, nor" young people.
But the importance of the breach of this right is not only focused on the fact that the exercise of a specific fundamental right, that of education, is being hindered, but also that to the extent that education is key to the effective enjoyment of other human rights, citizens are prevented from making effective constitutionally recognized rights, such as the free choice of profession or trade, access to the labor market in dignified conditions, access to culture, autonomy of thought, etcetera. In conclusion, they are deprived of the necessary tools for their professional, personal and social development.
Don José Miguel Pérez stated this week that the measures to be applied in this legislature to combat school failure are to expand the offers for adult education and training cycles and the possibility of taking Vocational Training remotely and with agreements with other autonomous communities. We will wait to see how they are specified, because while the Minister of Education recognizes this same week the important lack of Vocational Training places (200,000) and the need for a significant investment for their creation, in the Canary Islands the cuts threaten, again, the budget of the Public Education Service for the year 2012.
The fulfillment of a right present in the constitutional text approved 33 years ago requires that the public authorities urgently provide the necessary means to develop it. The role of the State in the construction of the Public School must begin by guaranteeing the resources and means necessary so that the entire population can access it, from the first stages of life to the higher university levels, without discrimination, guaranteeing at the same time the permanent education of adults.
But, in recent years in the Canary Islands the process has been the opposite: disinvestment of the public education service and, specifically, dismantling of Vocational Training.
A negotiated response to this situation is necessary, and a greater investment in Education in the Canary Islands is essential. An immediate solution is urgently needed for those waiting lists, made up of young people who are not allowed to study or work. Faced with the violation of a fundamental right, courage and a quick and forceful response are needed. As citizens we cannot remain impassive, we have the responsibility to demand it from the public authorities and from you, Mr. Minister, the highest responsible for the Ministry of Education, as this anguished and indignant mother reminds you, it is up to you to provide that solution. You will tell us.
*Mary C. Bolaños Espinosa, member of the National Secretariat of the STEC-IC
