The Department of Education of the Basque Government has ignored the serious consequences that the mismanagement of the beginning of the course has had in public centres and seems to have faced major challenges. The Lehendakari reported yesterday that the new Education Act comes forward a year. Although we do not know the reason for hurry, if we look at what has been made public, we understand that consensus with the law is clear and who is going to accompany it, what is to be known is what that consensus corresponds to. Do we need a law, but for what, to change something or to leave what we have as it is? These ideas inevitably come to us, in general, when those who defend such different political places suddenly speak in the name of consensus, with a date: What meeting points do they have in education?
In this supposed agreement with the unconsulted educational community, the PNV and EH Bildu have captured various ideas through the press. It seems that the management of the centers would be decentralized, increasing the municipal function, that is, by encouraging local participation and, at the same time, reinforcing the autonomy of the centers.
City councils are already part of the education system, for example, they are formally in the upper body of the center and have competence to organize after-school activities. Without forgetting the municipal participation in the Haurreskola Consortium and the various situations it has created. In any case, we have no doubt that strengthening their participation may be beneficial, but for such participation to be real and valid for all centres, preconditions of equality would be required. If not, changing participation would only increase inequalities and legitimize them. It would be naive not to take into account the political colour of municipalities and the diversity of economic resources.
"We have only to look at the current reality to see the difference that exists in the infrastructures that are municipal competence per center"
We have only to look at the current situation to see the difference that exists in the infrastructures that are the responsibility of the municipalities, in relation to the infrastructures of the centres of private ownership. We believe that decentralization would deepen deregulation, which would only increase the market logic that occurs in education, the competition between centers and the gap between centers, in addition to the false right of parents to decide, leaving the responsibility for the future success or failure of the center in the hands of specific centers. In this way, the Department of Education would not respond to the most serious problems we currently have in education and would not support the centres of their ownership.
The law that is agreed will, of course, contain the guarantees to avoid such deregulation, as many of them are unfortunately included in the current regulations, but are not complied with. As a ban on the collection of a fee which would be valid for blurring the balance between educational establishments. In order to deal with the current situation, we do not need documents full of suggestive words and intentions, we need a clear law governing the current segregation system.
Therefore, what we would like to thank lehendakari Urkullu, and also those who have reached agreements with him, would not be so much when the law was published, but what would be regulated to solve the problems generated by our dual public-private education system in the CAV. Because it is clear that, by giving the City Hall competence, 49% of the concerted centres we have at the CAPV will not disappear.
At STEILAS we support policies that strengthen the community and participation, which is why we defend the Basque Public School, which is the essence of the community. Because the strengthening of the community leads us to advertising and can only be given in public services. Is that what this law gathers? Are we finally going to overcome that law the educational system of privatization or the malabarisms that we have today to justify an unjust and unbalanced system, arming and legitimizing the future of the concerted centres, without regulating anything about the problems we have?
Public school is participative in itself, because that is the basis of advertising, we do not need another law to regulate it, but we have long needed a guarantee that will guarantee its survival in this country, and we do not believe that this Educational Pact has that purpose. Therefore, until we have a real education policy in favour of the Basque Public School, we will continue to fight, because it is the only option for the survival of our language and our society.