The danger behind the October 1st teachers' case

The repression on October 1st has had many victims, but some who have not suffered either prison or exile have gone more unnoticed. Among them are the nine teachers from the El Palacio Institute in San Andrés de la Barca who were singled out and accused of harassing the children of Civil Guards in the days following the referendum. The accusation could not be sustained and the case was closed, but their name remains tainted. If you search for them on Google, you'll find news stories about the accusations against them and a piece byThe World –which made the front page– where their names and surnames were listed, along with the subject they taught and a photograph of their faces. The court case went nowhere, but the public accusations are still online, accessible to anyone with a couple of clicks on Google. Now they are demanding that the digital trail of the closed case be erased, that the harm done to them be repaired, and that a plan be drawn up to protect teachers from prosecution for what they say in the classroom.

European legislation provides for the right to be forgotten in these cases, which can also be applied to Google, but achieving it is neither quick nor automatic and must usually be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. The right to be forgotten is sometimes controversial because it can conflict with the right to information, especially in the case of public figures. But there should be no debate here: these professors are not practicing politicians, nor are they celebrities. They are teachers singled out for what they said in the classroom while doing their jobs, following the violent repression of the October 1, 2017, referendum, and the judicial system has not identified any possible crimes.

The case of the targeting of the Sant Andreu de la Barca teachers for the October 1st referendum reveals a real debate and a real danger. The debate is about the extent to which teachers should be able to talk about the reality outside the classroom, about what's happening in the world, far or near home. It's clear that they should be able to do so: their job isn't just to pour useful content into students' minds, it's to educate them, to help them form their own opinions, to interpret the reality around them from their own perspective. This can only be done by talking, of course, without imposing a specific opinion or ideology on them. And the danger is that they can't do so freely. Teachers and professors should be able to talk about what's happening, including politics, to put it on the table. And they should be able to do so without fear of reprisal for what they say or for their personal beliefs.

Teachers are not automatons transmitting knowledge; they are people, and this is, or should be, one of their main values. Because they also help young people develop into adults. And this means they can and should think differently about different issues, and this should be used to bring debates into the classroom, provided they can help foster critical thinking among young children. The alternative is uncritical teaching, missing the opportunity to better develop future citizens.