Spain: Complaint against reforms sent to European Commission
One of EI’s affiliates in Spain, the Federación de Enseñanza de CCOO (FECCOO), has complained to the European Commission about the text of the forthcoming Organic Law for the Improvement of Education Quality (LOMCE).
The LOMCE makes fundamental changes to the current Fundamental Education Law (LOE, 2006) which has been in place for barely six years. FECCOO believes that parts of new bill infringe community law.
Specifically, the union questions the constitutionality of the LOMCE articles referring to:
- Gender-specific education;
- The teaching of Religion and Social and Civic Values;
- The hiring of language experts.
In the union’s view, the application of the articles governing these subjects contravenes the principle of equality enshrined in the Spanish Constitution and European Law.
It also complains of cuts in teaching staff as a result of “compressing” subjects. Thousands of jobs have been cut at every educational stage and level and the working conditions of education professionals have been degraded.
From January 2012 to January 2013 alone the number of teachers was reduced by 24,957. Since 2010 Spain has lost nearly one third of its education resources, with a budget cut of over 6,300 million euros.
Furthermore, against a background of recession and economic crisis, university tuition fees are rising while the conditions to meet to receive grants and study aids are getting tougher.
“Public education in Spain is in jeopardy” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “There must be a debate and a broad based dialogue with the education community to analyse the real problems in the sector and to find the most appropriate solutions”.
