Families accuse the Government of consolidating an "increasingly privatized" educational model

PalmaThe Federation of Student Families' Associations (FAPA Mallorca) has taken advantage of the school year's review to launch a global criticism of the Government's educational policies. The entity considers that the Ministry of Education has maintained a "good predisposition" for dialogue, but regrets that it has not translated into concrete actions or effective participation of families. Furthermore, it has warned that several decisions made during this school year point to "a change of model" in education towards greater corporatization and privatization of the system.

The president of FAPA Mallorca, Xavier Ferriol, has called for families to stop being simple recipients of information. "We need real participation from families. What we have now is not real," he stated. In this regard, he argued that it is "useless" to create spaces for participation "if they only serve to announce what has already been done, with no possibility of negotiation." "We want active listening," he insisted. He also criticized the fact that the working terms of the School Council of the Balearic Islands (CEIB) have been shortened.

Schools on fire

Ferriol has also criticized the slowness in the improvement actions of educational centers. Although the Ministry has announced new investments within the framework of the Air Conditioning and Infrastructure Plan, it considers that they are arriving too late. "The centers are demanding immediate measures," he said, and recalled that there are still schools without adequate conditions to cope with high temperatures. Among the demands, he has called for shade, better building insulation, and sun protection. "There isn't a single public building without air conditioning, but educational centers continue to lack adequate conditions," he denounced.

Another of the main criticisms has been the inclusion policy. The FAPA considers that the Language Segregation Plan and the promotion of new UEECO classrooms are going in the opposite direction to an inclusive school. "More resources are being allocated to separation than to inclusion," stated Ferriol, who also lamented that the inclusion decree continues to be unapproved. "We thought that at this stage we would already have it and it is still in a drawer," he said.

Regarding the new Baccalaureate of Excellence, the president of FAPA has stated that "it is a way to create separate groups" and has criticized that it has been implemented "hastily". He has also called for a strategic plan to continue reducing school dropout rates, beyond the increase in vocational training places. "It is not enough to create vocational training places," he warned.

FAPA has also responded to the statements made by the Minister of Education, Antoni Vera, who attributed the drop in passes in the University Access Tests (PAU) to the "failure" of the LOMLOE. The president of the entity, Xavier Ferriol, considers this explanation to be reductionist. "Attributing the poor results of the PAU to the LOMLOE is very simplistic. We are talking about students who started ESO five or six years ago," he stated.

On the other hand, FAPA points to the reorganization of the school calendar as one of the factors that could have influenced the results. According to Ferriol, the Ministry had already been warned that advancing the end of the second year of Baccalaureate to May 29 could harm students who had to take the PAU. "There are schools that told students that they no longer needed to attend class, and this has led to some students having practically twenty more days of vacation before risking everything in the selectivity exam," he explained.

"Indicators of a change in model"

The coordinator of the FAPA Technical Office, Miquel Àngel Guerrero, was even more forceful in his general assessment of the school year. "We see signs of a change in model that worries us," he stated. According to Guerrero, the progressive reduction of school enrollment areas, the contracting of the first cycle of early childhood education (0-3 years), and the closure of public centers respond to the same political orientation. "We increasingly see a more privatized model," he said.

The coordinator has particularly questioned the argument that the reduction of zones increases families' freedom of choice. "The data shows that more families have been able to choose a school. The question is which families and which schools. Mainly, families with more resources and subsidized schools," he stated. For this reason, he defended that the Administration must guarantee that "all schools are equally good" and rejected turning the educational system "into a competition between schools".

Canteens and work-life balance

The FAPA has also taken advantage of the appearance to refer to the Can Arabí case. Guerrero has described the closure of the central kitchen as "a chronicle of a foretold closure" and has assured that the problem highlights the lack of control over school canteens. "We are not so concerned about which company manages it, but rather that the Administration does not establish measures so that the canteens are safe spaces," he stated. In this regard, he applauded that family participation in the management of canteens has finally been maintained after the new decree initially suppressed it.

The FAPA board member David Edwardes has denounced that the participatory bodies continue to be without real decision-making spaces. "Participating is working together," he claimed. Edwardes has also criticized the criteria for some aid calls. As an example, he compared the income limit for canteen aid, set at 30,000 euros, with that of the reconciliation voucher, which reaches up to 120,000 euros. Furthermore, he regretted that subsidies for summer activities are announced in September. "If a family cannot advance the money during the summer, what use is the aid to them?" he asked.