Madrid’s teachers take to the streets

Thousands of teachers packed central Madrid on Wednesday to protest at the Conservative local administration’s spending cuts.

They marched to the local government offices, angered at what they claim is two billion euros being taken from the education budget, but also at an order by the regional governments for teachers to do two extra hours of classes a week, because it has frozen hiring of temporary teachers.

“Education has to be saved from the crisis because education is our future. If we want to get out of this crisis we have to invest in education,” said teacher Maria Angeles Garcia.

Each region is responsible for education in Spain, and each region will approach central government’s demands for spending cuts differently, but Madrid’s teachers are convinced their administration is going about things the wrong way.

Spain’s education system has one of Europe’s highest dropout rates, with around 30 percent of school leavers under 16.

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