Students General Strike in Spain

On February 4 the Spanish government announced the contents of the new so-called Quality Law for Education. A new law that the Spanish Students' Union has been denouncing since last year. The government has been trying to convince the population that they want to improve the education system. But after the campaign of privatisation in hospitals, industry and other areas they are not going to fool anyone. According to the right-wing Popular Party government this law will solve the problem of high drop-out and failure rates among students. These excuses hide the real reactionary measures of the Popular Party.

They are spreading reports in the media about the low level of Spanish students in relation to EU students. The clear conclusion for them is that Spanish students are lazy, or rather, lazier than those in the rest of the EU. They do not spend enough time studying. The right wing is blaming teachers and students for the bad results. Of course, for them this has nothing to do with the lack of resources and the conscious policy of funding private sector schools (mainly religious ones).

It is obvious for everyone that the real responsibility for the awful situation of state sector education lies with the government's policies. An example of that is in the year 2000 half a trillion pesetas less was invested in education than in 1993. The PP Government has been carrying out a policy aimed against state sector education. Now we can see the consequences: a lack of teachers, overcrowded classrooms and lack of FP places (apprentice studies).

More problems for the students

The Government wants not only one university entrance exam (the so-called "Selectividad") but TWO. With this new law, Spanish students will face an exam after they finish secondary education (called "Revalida" or "Prueba General de Bachillerato", PGB), something like A-levels in Britain - as well as another exam before starting university. This counter-reform is linked with the new university law (LOU), just passed in parliament, which opens the door to privatisation of the universities.

In reality their main aim is to expel thousands of students from the educational system, especially university students from a working class backgrounds, and go back to the "good old days" where university studies were a privilege for the ruling class and their cronies.

In the past few months we have seen a wave of strikes and occupations in the Spanish universities called by the Marxist-led Students' Union and other organisations. Massive demos have taken place, as large as 100,000 in Barcelona and Madrid and 50,000 in Santiago de Compostela. Despite the determination and unity showed by the students, teachers and non-teaching staff, the movement could not succeed. The Spanish Students' Union has been arguing since September for a united movement of students, teachers and other workers as the only way to defeat government plans. Unfortunately the leaders of the main trade union refused to call a one-day strike of the education system, and this finally allowed the government to pass the new University Law (LOU).

Once again the Students' Union is calling a students' general strike on March 7 against Government policies, particularly the so-called Quality Law, and probably we will see how thousands of students go on strike and flood the streets of the main cities in the country. This should be the first step towards an all-out strike of teachers, workers and students.

The Student Union is making a public appeal to the trade union leaders (CCOO, UGT, STE'S and CGT, the main unions in education) and the parents' associations to support the movement and to join in as well.

The main demands of the strike are:

• Against any discrimination, no extra entrance exams.
• Against the new university law (LOU).
• Increase the expenditure in education to 7% of GDP.
• Reduce the number of students in the classroom to 20 in primary schools and 25 in secondary schools.
• Increase the number of teachers.
• For democratic rights in the schools.