Report on the March 7 Student Strike in Spain

The general strike of high schools and technical colleges on March 7 against the "Quality Law" and the VT Law has been a success. More than 2 million students stopped classes; the support of the strike was 90% and thousands of students have taken part in more than 40 demonstrations and rallies in Vigo, Orense, Coruña, Santiago, Gijón, Oviedo, Vitoria, San Sebastián, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona (where we denonuce the brutal repression of the Catalan autonomous police and we demand the immediate resignation of those responsible), Tarragona, Girona, Lleida, Madrid, Valladolid, Albacete, Guadalajara, Ávila, Sevilla, Granada, Málaga, Jaén, Huelva, Badajoz, Cáceres among others. The most significant was in Barcelona with 20,000 students, Madrid 15,000, Valencia 8,000, Bilbao 6,000, Zaragoza 2,000, Valladolid 1,000… Today's demonstrations have been a new example of the massive rejection by the youth of the Ministry of Education's privatising and elitist policies and is the first step in the fight against the misnamed "Quality Law".

We went to the streets as with the Ministry of Education's arrogance and contempt towards the students' movement it was the only thing we could do. Their only answers to our demands have been deafness and repression. Today, thousands of students have been completely deprived of their right to strike and demonstrate. The Ministry of Education has allowed boards of governors - allied to the Popular Party - to menace students who went on strike. There have been lots and lots of exams; letters have been sent to parents telling them that their sons and daughters could lose their right to continue with their exams; in many schools they have forbidden us to give out leaflets and to hold information meetings…

The Students' Union demands a reform of the education system to benefit the majority of society, to benefit the sons and daughters of workers. For that reason we demand an investment plan for public education to reduce overcrowding by hiring more teachers, removing prefab classrooms, etc. This, and not the reactionary and elitist measures adopted by the PP, is the first step in fighting against school drop-out.

The future of public education is at stake. Most teachers and parents support us. Representatives of the education unions of the CC.OO., STES, UGT, CGT and also the CEAPA (Confederation of Parents' Associations) and representatives of left parties have attended and supported today's demonstrations. The Students' Union calls again on the leaders of these organisations to call for a general strike of the whole education community as the best way of continuing the struggle and halting the counter-reforms of the PP.

Finally, we inform you that the National Executive Committee is meeting next weekend to draw a balance of the strike and to decide on future action, as well as to discuss our proposals to the organisations that constitute the Platform in Defence of Public Education which will meet next on March 11.