The education system in the Balearic islands has been thrown into total chaos due to what is claimed to be an illegal implementation of a totally crazy, bizarre, stupendous new law. Read a summary of the situation on The Ibiza Sun:
Difficult Situation
Headlines were dominated this week by the new law concerning the integration of languages which will see children being taught in Castillian Spanish, Catalan and English at all levels, which some education experts insist is just not viable at the present time. They claim it would mean that certain subjects would have to be taught in a language that the pupils are not used to; for example, to learn mathematics in English when the teacher’s command of that language is sketchy would be very difficult. The prime mover of this new legislation is Joana María Camps, the Balearic Education Councillor, and all eleven headmasters of the secondary schools in Ibiza and Formentera have demanded that she resigns over her handling of the new system. By the time this edition of the Ibiza Sun hits the streets, it is highly likely that teachers at these schools will have gone on strike, action which had been threatened since well before the beginning of the new school year, and has no timescale, although with teachers not being paid whilst on strike, it is unlikely to last too long.
The head teachers of the secondary schools in Ibiza and the one in Formentera have not rejected the idea of presenting their resignations en masse, but are waiting to see the reactions of their counterparts, both in Mallorca and Menorca. In the latter Island, disciplinary action has already been taken out on three schools there due to their refusal to implement the new law.
The Parents Associations of the various education centres are understandably concerned about the situation, and the President of the Association which governs Ibiza and Formentera, Conchi Romero, said that they fully appreciate the position that the teachers find themselves in, adding that they have had to pay for the consequences of decisions which have been made in the public education system by the current head of the Govern, José Ramón Bauza and his team over the past two years, but that their main concern is for the people who will be most seriously disadvantaged by the strike - the children. Education has been one of the departments which has experienced the most cuts, with wages being slashed, jobs lost, class sizes increased and auxiliary teachers, who had been helping children with learning problems, dismissed.
It was initially hoped that a last minute meeting between the two sides would lead to an agreement, but it was reported that negotiations had broken down on Friday, resulting in the indefinite strike starting on Monday.
In a nutshell, the teachers are being forced to teach many subjects in English. Anyone who has had dealings with teachers at schools in Ibiza know that the vast majority of teachers cannot speak a jot of the language!
At a time when the schools have record numbers of pupils and less teachers, having taken pay cuts on the chin, this latest move is just plain crazy.
It is hard to envisage what the outcome will ultimately be, but this is one strike that is entirely reasonable.
