Spanish Teachers against Education Budget Cuts

Madrid, Sep 20. -High school teachers from over 12 Spanish regions started Tuesday the first day of strikes against budget cuts in education and advocating public education.Almost 21,000 teachers were called to a 48 hours strike in Madrid, a community ruled by the conservative Popular Party (PP).Teachers from Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha, Navarra and Cataluña will join the strike in Madrid through different actions.

In order to cut spending costs, teachers were ordered to remain more time in class; which means that thousands backup or temporary teachers will not be hired this year, according to Spanish labour unions.

These measures, most of them lead by the PP, will affect the teaching quality; will safe almost 2 billion Euros; and will leave almost 15,000 teachers unemployed.

The president of Madrid's regional government, Esperanza Aguirre said Monday that all phases of education have to be free and obligatory; a statement that rose a lot of anger among teachers.

Andalucia, Aragon, Baleares, Cantabria, Castilla y Leon, Pais Vasco, Extremadura and Murcia regions, including Melilla city, also joined the strike. (Prensa Latina)