Family associations send a letter to Niubó: "You have the obligation to listen"

"Madam Minister, this unease is neither new nor isolated. That is why, when education professionals mobilize, they are not just defending working conditions. They are defending time and resources to support students, the educational and emotional attention that children need, and the possibility of sustaining a quality public school." This is a fragment from the letter that Affac – an organization representing 2,400 parent associations of public schools and institutes – has sent to the Minister of Education Esther Niubó. Affac sent it this Monday during a new strike day in the education sector, in which teachers blocked the entrance to Sagrada Familia for two hours as part of the protests in Barcelona and Barcelonès.

In the two-page document, the federation of family associations denounces "lack of resources, overload, absence of a classroom model that guarantees co-teaching and attention to diversity, bureaucratization," as well as "years of policies that have favored the expansion and protection of subsidized schools, while public schools remain underfunded." Factors that, according to the parent associations, explain the "deep unease" of the educational community. Faced with this scenario, Affac accuses the Government of "contempt for education professionals who have been mobilizing for months" and criticizes that this way of acting "contrasts with the speed with which it reaches agreements to strengthen subsidized schools and renew educational subsidies to the detriment of public schools."

"The priorities of a department are read in its budgets and its agreements. And the message they send is unequivocal," continues the letter, which assures that families know that "there is no strong public school without listened-to and respected professionals." Therefore, they insist that "when teaching staff denounce that this cannot continue," the department "has the obligation to listen" and urge Niubó to "stop treating the conflict as a public order problem and start addressing it politically."

"Madam Minister, we ask you to assume the responsibility that corresponds to you: to guarantee the right to education for all children and adolescents in Catalonia. This means negotiating with real political will and concrete commitments," they plead from Affac. "The families of public schools are willing to be active interlocutors of this change. The question is whether you are too," the letter concludes.

Protest in Sagrada Familia

This Monday at noon, striking teachers in Barcelonès are demonstrating through the center of Barcelona in the rain. The start of the march has been delayed by the rain, which despite having given a truce to start the mobilization, has reappeared shortly after. The teachers have left Jardinets de Gràcia and plan to go to the ministry, on Via Augusta. The convening unions –USTEC, Professors de Secundària, CGT, and La Intersindical– have once again demanded that Education address their demands and reach an agreement, and have asked political groups not to support accounts that do not reverse the "educational emergency".

Hours earlier, striking teachers blocked access to the Sagrada Familia for two hours on Marina Street. The protest prevented the temple from opening its doors at 9 a.m., as planned, and money will be refunded to visitors who had purchased a ticket. According to the Barcelona Urban Guard, about 450 people participated in the protest.

The protesters wore yellow t-shirts and chanted slogans against the government's educational policy and the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, such as "Niubó, Niubó, you earn too much". In parallel, dozens more people formed a human chain from the la Sedeta school to the Sagrada Familia, and carried tables and chairs to the temple to recreate a classroom. Additionally, they took advantage of the protest's setting to denounce tourist overcrowding and the resources allocated to this model, while, they warn, public services are deteriorating.