Madrid's public education system begins tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14, an indefinite strike that brings together teachers and students against the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The conveners demand fewer students per classroom, more staff, better salaries, and decent facilities, after months of mobilizations and requests for negotiation with the Ministry of Education. The protest reaches schools, high schools, and Vocational Training, with concentrations and demonstrations in the center of Madrid.
Hours before the start, the Minister of Education, Science and Universities, Mercedes Zarzalejo, has called the strike "incomprehensible" and the demands "impossible". The head of the department maintains that she is negotiating the professional career and defends the sectoral agreement signed previously. The conveners consider this response insufficient to resolve the problems of staffing, salaries, and student attention that have led the educational community to prepare a strike with no end date.
The teaching call was agreed upon in June and includes CCOO, UGT, CGT, CNT, the Madrid Teaching Workers' Union (STEM), Solidaridad Obrera, and the collectives Menos Lectivas, Queremos FP, and Educación Especial Digna. It affects non-university public education, including schools, high schools, Vocational Training (FP), and special regime education. The Student Union also calls for an indefinite student strike starting this Wednesday.
Fewer students and more resources
Ayuso's Government faces this mobilization with Madrid in last place for spending per student in public education. According to the statistics from the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports corresponding to 2023, the latest data available, the community allocated 6,502 euros per student in non-university public centers, compared to the state average of 7,943. This is 1,441 euros less per student, an 18% difference that places the region below all other autonomous communities.
The teaching demands table proposes 17 weekly teaching periods in Secondary and FP and 22 in Early Childhood and Primary Education, with recognition of tasks such as tutoring and coordination. It also demands reducing ratios, the number of students per classroom, to a maximum of 13 in Early Childhood, 15 in Primary and FP, 20 in Secondary, and 23 in Baccalaureate. The conveners ask for more professionals to attend to diversity and a minimum provision of one counselor for every 250 students.
In salaries, the committee proposes an autonomous increase of 600 euros per month in the general specific teaching supplement to compensate for the loss of purchasing power and the cost of living in Madrid. The claim is accompanied by measures to reduce temporary employment and equalize conditions among teaching bodies. It also demands the incorporation of full-time administrative staff in centers to alleviate bureaucracy and allow teachers to dedicate more time to preparing classes and attending to their students.
The demands also include air conditioning centers, removing asbestos, and ending phased construction, along with measures against school segregation and a review of the bilingual model. Students demand more public vocational training places and resources to prevent harassment and address mental health. "We are not second-class students," states the Student Union, which links its call to the defense of accessible public education with sufficient resources.
The protests and minimum services
The calendar disseminated by the Student Union foresees pickets from 8:00 a.m. this Wednesday, a concentration in Puerta del Sol at 12:00 p.m. and a demonstration from Atocha to Sol at 6:00 p.m. The call seeks to bring together teachers, students, and families during the first day of the strike. The teaching strike committee has established that the evolution of the conflict and decisions on negotiation will be submitted to teacher consultations.
The Independent and Civil Servants Trade Union (CSIF) has its own call, with three full days of strike on the 14th, 15th, and 16th, followed by partial stoppages during the quarter. Centers will remain open with minimum services, although classes may be altered. Among the minimums set is one teacher per 50 students in the second cycle of Early Childhood and Primary Education and one teacher per 90 in Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) and Basic Vocational Training. The strike committee considers them "abusive" and denounces that they disproportionately restrict the right to join the stoppages.
The mobilization also extends to other educational stages. The Complutense University of Madrid and Rey Juan Carlos University have called a specific strike for this Wednesday, promoted by their platforms in defense of public universities and supported by trade union organizations. They denounce underfunding and link their demands to the housing crisis affecting students and workers. Early childhood educators, for their part, maintain a previous conflict with a strike that began in April.
After the first day, the student calendar maintains a concentration in front of the Ministry of Education on Thursday 15 at 12:00 p.m. On Friday 16, an open assembly is scheduled in Retiro at noon and another demonstration from Atocha to Sol at 6:00 p.m.
