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    <title><![CDATA[Ara in English - Yolanda Segura]]></title>
    <link><![CDATA[https://en.ara.cat/etiquetes/yolanda-segura/]]></link>
    <description><![CDATA[Ara in English - Yolanda Segura]]></description>
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      <title><![CDATA[The future of Catalonia at stake]]></title>
      <link><![CDATA[https://en.ara.cat/antoni-bassas-analysis/the-future-of-catalonia-at-stake_8_5759154.html]]></link>
      <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://static1.ara.cat/clip/1b85a088-289e-4c5e-ae44-1285b8be9eb3_16-9-aspect-ratio_default_0.jpg" /></p><p>Teachers and professors rejected the agreement between the unions and the Department of Education and the strikes will continue. In fact, this morning, a group of teachers occupied the building of the territorial services of the department in the Zona Franca of Barcelona, in the first of the mobilizations that will continue from here until the end of the school year. All of this is very bad news because everything that interrupts the daily life of the school ends up harming the students' education. And with a child poverty rate (under 18 years old) of more than 30%, if school fails, almost everything fails. Consider that there are thousands of Catalan children who, besides learning, go to school to eat a hot meal.A 65% of teachers who participated in the consultation (which was 60% of the total staff) <a href="https://en.ara.cat/society/it-will-be-very-disputed-teachers-reveal-today-if-they-accept-the-pre-agreement-with-education-or-maintain-the-strikes_1_5757803.html">voted against the agreement reached by the majority unions</a> and the Government. Therefore, the responsibilities for the situation are widely distributed, between the Government and the unions.To begin with, the Government made a complete mistake the day it signed an agreement with UGT and Comissions, which are not the majority unions, as if to suggest that the teachers' protests had already ended or no longer had any reason to continue. That was an almost reckless error, because it angered the teachers even more. And USTEC, which later signed an improved and expanded agreement, has now been disavowed by its own people. In other words, as Murphy's Law states, if something can go wrong, it will go wrong, and today we are in an unknown situation, and in a conflict whose end is not in sight.And for that very reason, it would now be very important not to make any more mistakes so that we don't all get hurt any further. Because look, we have problems in this country (as in all countries in the world), but that of education is the most serious problem that Catalonia has. The most serious. Because it affects the present and the future of the country, it affects millions of people, in their training, their critical thinking, their possibilities for personal development, their professional future…Not being wrong means the direct involvement of the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa. It means that the opposition should be very selective in its wear and tear on the Government and that we should all try to reach agreements for the country. Because the person responsible for the current situation is the current government, with Councillor Niubó at the helm. But that schools in Catalonia are not doing well is not new. There are responsibilities of all the parties that have governed in the deterioration. We are facing the deep malaise of an education system in emergency and I fear, I notice, how would I put it... that we are facing it with old negotiation categories from the government as an employer and the unions, but that no one with authority is bringing wills together to define the problem, much less the solutions.</p>]]></description>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Antoni Bassas]]></dc:creator>
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      <pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 05 Jun 2026 09:58:52 +0000]]></pubDate>
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      <media:title><![CDATA[Analysis_050626]]></media:title>
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      <subtitle><![CDATA[Not to be mistaken means the direct implication of president Illa. It means that the opposition should be very selective in its wearing down of the Government and all together try to reach country agreements. Because the responsible for the current situation is the current government, with minister Niubó at the head. But the deterioration has responsibilities of all the parties that have governed. we are facing it with old negotiating categories of government as employers and unions, but that nobody with authority is joining wills to define the problem and much less the solutions.]]></subtitle>
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      <title><![CDATA[Teachers want much more than a salary increase]]></title>
      <link><![CDATA[https://en.ara.cat/antoni-bassas-analysis/teachers-want-much-more-than-salary-increase_8_5734526.html]]></link>
      <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://static1.ara.cat/clip/20249516-609c-4670-aefd-e3dbbf58f6fc_16-9-aspect-ratio_default_0.jpg" /></p><p>Today is the first of the 17 days of strikes that teachers have called. Their stoppage not only impacts students and families who are left without classes: at a quarter past seven in the morning, <a href="https://www.ara.cat/societat/educacio/vaga-docents-directe_6_5734239.html" >the striking teachers have cut off traffic</a> in places like Mataró, Manresa, Vic, and especially, at the entrances to Barcelona, very particularly on the Ronda de Dalt, and then in the city center.  Among teachers there is the conviction that it is now or never, that they have been holding up the educational system for a long time, that they do not have reinforcements in classrooms, that they are increasingly complex, and that salaries are low considering the responsibility they have, and that while the salaries of the Mossos have been reviewed, those of teachers have not.Regarding this, today we publish <a href="https://en.ara.cat/society/with-proposal-of-400-euros-monthly-we-could-talk-about-lifting-the-protest_128_5734054.html" >this interview with the spokesperson for USTEC</a>, Iolanda Segura, with a very clear headline: “With 400 euros per month we could talk about raising the protest”. Pay attention, however, to a couple of details. First, the nuance. The spokesperson says: “If it is scheduled that 200 euros are already this first year and then the rest in two or three more years, we could finish negotiating and see what the collective tells us. But what is non-negotiable is 200 euros in four years, which everyone knows perfectly well that it neither places us at the forefront of salaries in the rest of the communities nor reverses the salary loss”. And the other detail is that it's not all about salaries. What else could provoke the protest? The union leader says: “Regarding staff numbers, the agreement includes a series of measures that we negotiated ourselves, such as reducing ratios and providing resources for educational centers and for inclusive education. We are talking about figures that are both labor and teaching, special education educators, integration specialists, TEEI (specialist technician in early childhood education) and psychopedagogues”. It is important to note, therefore, that teachers are demanding improvements that go beyond economic ones. I say this because the polarization, for and against teachers, without nuances, which mixes things like having two months of vacation, has reached the dozens of comments the news has received.I believe it is fundamental that we look further, and of course, do so without starting from likes or dislikes. It may be annoying that they block traffic or demand more money, but teachers are focusing on a core problem, that of education. A problem means what is taught, how it is taught, and what educational and future job value for students the content taught in Catalan schools has. If we talk about education, for a long time now no one here is happy: the Government wants to reverse the results of the PISA report, we have concluded that the teaching career is neither sufficiently demanding nor sufficiently recognized, the postal district weighs heavily on the students' school reality, the job market cannot find well-prepared people... And it's not new, it's been a long time that with all kinds of governments, teaching has been fertile ground for the dissatisfaction of its protagonists. And thus, as a society, we cannot continue. And the Government, even less so. What a mistake it was to bring the spotlights and cameras to the signing of an agreement with unions that were not the majority ones, as if to say that everything is fine, madam baroness. Well, no, it is not, and we will hear about it during 17 days of strike, three of which are general education strikes, between now and the end of the school year.Good morning.</p>]]></description>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Antoni Bassas]]></dc:creator>
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      <pubDate><![CDATA[Tue, 12 May 2026 09:01:48 +0000]]></pubDate>
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      <media:title><![CDATA[Teachers want much more than a pay raise]]></media:title>
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      <subtitle><![CDATA[It is important to point out that teachers are demanding improvements that go beyond economic ones. I say this because the polarization, for and against teachers, without nuances, which mixes things like having two months of vacation, has reached the dozens of comments the news has.]]></subtitle>
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