These past few weeks, the media have been filled with headlines referring to the reactions and consequences of the announcement made by some groups of teachers, who have expressed their refusal to go on camps as a measure of pressure to improve the conditions of the educational system.Here are a few as an example: “Going on school trips is not our obligation”, “Teachers against children: school trips are a right”, “Students from Valls refuse to attend class due to the cancellation of school trips [...]”, "The end of the educational contract", “Unease among families due to the threat from teachers”, “Families believe that stopping school trips is breaking the rules of the game”, “School trip centers fear the teachers' strike”, “Warning from school trip centers about teachers' protest: we are in COVID numbers”...It is very interesting to be able to interpret the nuances of these reactions: from the article published in this same newspaper by the director of relations at Fundesplai, to Ricard Ustrell's apron on Catalunya Ràdio, you can dip bread everywhere. But what I find truly extraordinary is the ease with which these headlines are twisting the issue. Let's get this straight: the teaching teams are the group that has most believed in the importance of organizing the colony experience for the children in our schools. We have been doing it for decades without receiving any kind of compensation beyond the gratitude of the families and the children themselves. We have done it selflessly with the conviction that this experience is fundamental for many educational aspects.

Between now and the end of the school year, during the next month and a half, there will be a total of seventeen days of strikes in the country's schools and institutes, a string of stoppages spread across different zones. The average will be five days per center: this will be the impact on students and their families. In other words, educational centers will cease to function normally for 5 out of the 35 remaining school days until the holidays, which is 14% of the total. In any sector, a stoppage of this magnitude would cause a major disruption. Of course, it will be for the educational world. A world, moreover, that has a very strong social impact.

A few weeks ago, the students of the Baldiri i Reixac School in Barcelona went on a school trip. The children in I5, second, and fourth grade did. Until last year, all grades went, but the teaching staff decided to reserve them only for the end of the cycle because it was becoming increasingly difficult to find teachers willing to go each year. They thought that the fact that not everyone had to go each year would lead to greater availability on the part of the teachers. Years ago, the opposite decision was made. The trips were held at the end of the cycle, and it was agreed to extend them to all grades. “We teachers attached great importance to the trips, but little by little we have been getting worn out,” comments a teacher from the center.

“We paid for the summer camp and bought everything: the backpack, the sleeping bag, the mosquito repellent; but at the last minute she started crying and didn’t want to go,” explains Somaya about her 8-year-old daughter, Nadjat. It’s not the first time this has happened. Since kindergarten (i5), Nadjat’s school—located in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona—has organized a one- or two-night summer camp every two years, but Somaya has yet to get her daughter to go. According to the report Wasn't educational leisure a right? d'Alliance 360Participation in leisure activities (such as summer camps or extracurricular activities) varies drastically depending on origin and income: children from newly arrived families participate between 20% and 30% less in organized leisure activities compared to children from native families.