"We have plenty of vocation, but we lack hands": thousands of students and teachers take to the streets for the 11-N

PalmaThousands of students and teachers have taken to the streets as part of the November 11th general strike. The mobilization began at the Plaça del Tub in Palma, from where students and education professionals joined a day of protest with educational, social, and labor demands. Among the attendees was also Madò Farta.

The banners carried by the protesters highlighted some of the main concerns of the day. 'We have plenty of vocation, but we lack hands. It's education, not survival' is one of the messages with which teachers wanted to denounce the lack of staff and the difficulties in doing their jobs in educational centers. Students also made their voices heard with slogans such as 'I also want a dignified future'.

The protest has also focused on the housing situation and the model of life in Mallorca, with slogans such as 'Mallorca is not for sale' and 'My house is your house'. In this way, the mobilization has connected the demands of the educational community with social concerns that especially affect young people, such as the difficulties in emancipating and accessing housing. The mobilization in the streets has coincided with a day of numerous absences in the educational centers of the Islands, especially in high schools. The first data collected in centers in Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza show uneven participation among the teaching staff, but an especially high incidence among secondary school students.

Monitoring in centers

One of the most notable cases is that of the IES Cap de Llevant in Maó, where almost nine out of every ten students from the third year of ESO onwards have not attended class. Among the teaching staff, the participation rate was 43%. At the IES Quartó de Portmany, in Ibiza, the absence rate was also very high: almost all students from the third year of ESO to the second year of Baccalaureate and those in vocational training cycles did not attend the center. Among the teachers, the participation rate was 20%.

In Mallorca, at IES Can Peu Blanc, 28 out of 92 teachers (30.4%) went on strike, as did practically all students between third year of ESO and second year of Baccalaureate, except for seven. At IES Josep Font i Trias, the turnout was 40% among teachers and 70% among students. In Sineu, a third of the 140 morning shift teachers supported the call. At IES Mossèn Alcover in Manacor, 43% of the morning shift faculty stopped their activity. At IES Capdepera, 30% of the teachers went on strike, as did the majority of the student body. At IES Biel Martí in Ferreries, in Menorca, 15 of the 62 teachers supported the call, 30%, in addition to the massive turnout of students.

In primary schools, however, the impact was more moderate. At CEIP Aina Moll in Palma, with about 620 students distributed in 27 groups, between five and ten children were absent per classroom, and 30% of the faculty supported the strike. At CEIP Vialfàs in sa Pobla and CEIP Molí d'en Xema in Manacor, the absences of teachers and students were low. The day thus left two complementary images: the streets of Palma with a massive educational mobilization and numerous high schools with activity much lower than usual, especially due to the absence of students.