Thousands of students demonstrate in Madrid to protest against Spain’s spending cuts in the education system, February 6, 2013.
Thousands of teachers, and students with parents, have taken to the streets of the Spanish capital, Madrid, to protest against the government’s planned budget cuts in the education sector.
The Thursday demonstration marked the third day of strikes in public schools. The demonstrators said the Spanish government’s cost-cutting measures were weakening an already unstable education system.
The protesters also said that the harsh cutbacks in the education sector were forcing students to learn in overcrowded and cold classrooms.
“I have classes of 37 pupils with only three and half hours of teaching a week,” said an English teacher participating in the protest.
In 2012, Madrid unveiled a plan that sought to make three billion euros (about four billion dollars) of savings in schools and universities to stabilize public finances.
On Wednesday, students in nearly one hundred cities held a demonstration on the second day of the strikes that the Students’ Union (SE) had called to protest against the cutbacks.
Protesters have called for the resignation of Education Minister Jose Ignacio Wert, saying his policies are ruining the public education system.
“In my university we have spent the winter months without heating,” said another demonstrator who took part in the Wednesday march.
The Spanish government has been sharply criticized over austerity policies that are hitting the middle and working classes the hardest.
However, the government has remained adamant, saying the austerity measures are needed to carry it through the crisis.
According to the Students’ Union, almost 1.6 million students joined the Wednesday demonstration from institutes across the country, including the major cities of Madrid and Valencia, and the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Extremadura, Aragon and Asturias.
Spain’s economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008. Millions of jobs have been lost ever since.
MR/HSN