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EDUCATION

Spain’s students strike against education cuts

Protesters burned bins at a top Spanish university campus on Thursday and hundreds marched through the streets in a national strike against education cuts that has seen scores of arrests.

Spain's students strike against education cuts
Young protesters called for Education Minister Jose Ignacio Wert to resign over reforms that have seen cuts in spending on schools and universities. Photo: Pierre Phillipe Marcou/AFP

A Madrid police spokeswoman told AFP that officers arrested one person on Thursday morning "for possession of flammable material" after bins were burned at Madrid's Complutense university.

Police also released on bail 54 people who were arrested on Wednesday for burning bins and occupying offices at the Complutense campus in the west of Madrid, the spokeswoman said.

Early on Thursday afternoon, several hundred high school pupils and university students marched noisily but peacefully in central Madrid in a demonstration against the crisis education reforms.

"No to education cuts," they yelled, calling for Education Minister Jose Ignacio Wert to resign over reforms that have seen cuts in spending on schools and universities while higher education fees have been increased.

"It makes me sad because they are not giving everyone the opportunity to study," said one demonstrator, 18-year-old high school pupil Karim Martinez.

"They are raising fees and cutting scholarships. A lot of parents do not have the money to pay for university."

The national Students' Union called for similar demonstrations around the country on Thursday, the second of two days of strikes in high schools and universities.

Spain's conservative government launched spending cuts in 2012 that aimed to save 150 billion euros ($206 billion) to stabilise the public finances of the euro zone's fourth-biggest economy.

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EDUCATION

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government. 

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded. 

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.” 

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres. 

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level,  people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used. 

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said. 

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