After the whirlwind of the election campaign, and once we have left the vote in the ballot box, we are in a position to make our reading. After all, it seems that they will govern the same as before, from the head. We therefore do not know whether we should invite this new government to meet the new challenges or require it to take over those who did not. In any case, if we are to face up to the challenges of this legislature in the field of education, we have to look to the past and put on the table the outstanding tasks: Euskaldunisation and the fight against school segregation. Because we hope that the action of this government will not be to give up the educational disaster they have been doing so far.

It is not out of mistrust, the truth is that the effort that has been made in the campaign to avoid the issue of education, what is the most evident evidence. In view of what was said in the electoral debates, someone might think that public education is not one of the public services that underpin our society, or is not even privatized. Let us not forget that, throughout the European Union, only Belgium exceeds the rate of privatisation in the Basque Country.

It seems that today nobody assumes responsibility for the educational agreement that received 90.6% parliamentary support and generated the seed of our current educational law. We know that not all the political parties that signed the agreement ultimately supported the law, but if they did not agree today, it seems surprising that they did not do so in the campaign. Are they ashamed? Perhaps the reasons for the law were not the result of political criteria, but of other interests?

It is partly understandable, because it is not easy to defend in the campaign a proposal that balances the public network with the concerted network. Can you imagine this proposal in the health field? It would be difficult to deny the privatizing spirit of the educational law. Although someone really wanted to defend the Basque public school, he could argue that in this legislature funding for private education has increased by 30%, for example, or that the ratio to be able to agree has dropped to 13. And that the pact extends to classrooms for two years, so the concerted centres have been funded with an additional EUR 16 million. Dealing with these claims would be difficult, because it makes no sense to extend the pact when we are faced with a worrying drop in birth rates. I could also recall that, although the Haurreskolak Consortium has promoted free provision, no resources have been made to maintain it and service has been reduced. If any of the political parties really believed in social cohesion, they could remember that 67% of the vulnerable students are enrolled in public school, or that 96% of the students studying in Loiu are in the private centre and go by bus to the detriment of the environment.

Unfortunately, all this seems to have disappeared voluntarily during the campaign. But we have not been forgotten, because it is clear to us that this is not the educational system we deserve, even though Parliament has made laws at the expense of mass demonstrations. We will therefore continue to fight for the streets, schools, universities and wherever necessary until the Basque public school is the backbone of our system. It is the only one that guarantees inclusion and Euskaldunisation, which is common and for all.

Nagore Iturrioz López and Yolanda Porres García, members of the Steilas trade union.