Teachers protest education cuts

A PROTEST by teachers from Playa Flamenca secondary school in Orihuela Costa was due to take place Tuesday following an earlier protest.

In this protest they planned to shut themselves inside the school from 3pm followed by an assembly at 6.30pm in which they will inform all concerned as to what is happening.

Then on Wednesday they would hold a saucepan-banging demonstration after classes.

There is also a student strike planned for Thursday February 16 by the students union to protest against the Valencia Regional Government cuts.

The first protest took place last Thursday in front of Orihuela Town Hall. They were protesting against cutting of grants for education materials and demanding that a ‘proper’ school be built. The majority of the 450 students at this school are reportedly foreigners.

For the past eight years they have been taught portacabins, in which it is reportedly hot in the summer, cold and damp in the winter and is smelly.

There have reportedly been repeated requests that a better structure be provided. In the most recent cuts, the number of teachers was reduced by 30 to 40 per cent compared to 2009.

The collective community made of teachers, students and parents of the school are reportedly ‘fed-up’ that politicians make education cuts in public schools, while their children attend private schools.

For more information see the blog http://asambleadeprofesoresiesplayaflamenca.blogspot.com