Students who will be able to go on strike after taking their school to the Síndic de Greuges
The school has changed its internal regulations following complaints from teenagers.
BarcelonaIn early October 2025, several European cities were filled with protests against the genocide in Gaza and in response to the attack by Israeli warships on the Barcelona Flotilla off the coast of Gaza. In Hospitalet de Llobregat, a group of teenagers were experiencing their own dispute related to the international conflict: their high school had forbidden them from participating in the student strike called against the genocide on October 2nd. Far from letting it go, the students at this secondary school decided to escalate their struggle. "As you know, there is a strike called by the Students' Union for Thursday, October 2nd. At our school, the faculty has decided not to approve the strike, arguing that it does not directly affect us as students." This is how the letter the students sent to the Catalan Ombudsman (Síndic de Greuges) begins, denouncing what they considered to be the "illegal" prohibition of their school from exercising this right. "We don't know how we should act or if we have a real possibility of exercising our right to strike without suffering unfair consequences," they acknowledged in the letter.
As the resolution that the ombudsperson sent to the Minister of Education recounts, the students also explained that when they told their tutor they wanted to go on strike, she "dissuaded them from doing so, arguing that the school wouldn't allow it." The teacher also informed them of "possible negative consequences for students who followed the call to not attend class." In fact, the ombudsperson also warned that the school's internal operating rules did not comply with the Supreme Court ruling and the decree on school autonomy regarding the right to "collective absence from class."
Promoting the right to demonstrate
In response to this situation, the ombudsperson sent a communication to the Department of Education and the school requesting a review of the case and the application of current regulations regarding students' right to strike. She also urged them to "guarantee students' right to make collective decisions regarding class attendance [...] without any consequences arising from absence." Thus, the students' action had its effect: the Department of Education informed the Ombudsman that the school administration had allowed the strike "without any consequences" for the students who did not attend class. Furthermore, the department has also confirmed that the Inspectorate will advise the school on revising its rules to comply with current legislation.
Once the conflict was resolved, the ombudsperson explained in a statement that she "highly values this change," as it reinforces the idea that educational centers "should be spaces for the active promotion of fundamental rights, and not places where obstacles or impediments are placed."
