Children in schools whose teachers are accredited by the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) are the most affected by walkouts in public services.
Before resorting to the unlimited general strike, the same establishments had already been paralyzed by two strike sequences of the Common Front, which includes support staff and professionals among its ranks: half a day, then three days, the last coinciding with the start of the FAE’s indefinite general strike (GGI). While the third seven-day sequence of the Common Front has just ended, the FAE continues the fight without rest.
For many, school did not start again on Monday, far from it…
Meanwhile, children vegetate at home, while their parents and teachers despair of a world-wise settlement. Through the negligence of the government, which inherits the inertia of its predecessors, these public children are deprived of education.
Meanwhile, in private
The contrast is striking with private school. Wanting what is best for your offspring means sending them to the right place, especially if elsewhere the risk of everything falling apart is well known. When we have the financial means and we know the state of the public network – dilapidated schools, difficult composition of classes, lack of resources, exhaustion of the teaching staff – the temptation to go private, even for parents whose budget is tight, is a guilty pleasure.
Considering the human cost that parents and children of the public now have to pay, this year is a godsend for people who have taken more from their pockets. Their children are not harmed, because education, after all, is a right.
Nothing is felt on that side of the network, except at the level of empathy. Because it is unacceptable that fellow citizens suffer so much and that we have to sacrifice months of schooling for poor people. Beyond this caricature, I see that indignation has no borders.
There still remains a certain uneasiness. A few days before Christmas, FAE teachers have not had a salary for several weeks. The contrast is shocking with private school teachers: their portfolio remains intact, and the struggle that their colleagues are waging on the other side of the fence will have a positive impact on their own working conditions due to pay parity clauses. And to think that the private sector is largely financed by the State, between 50% and 75%, it seems. Enough to be struck with amazement.
No going back
Either way, the fault is neither the parents nor the private teachers. It should be remembered that they remain in solidarity with their colleagues, as evidenced by their donation initiative. No, if there is a fault, it is to be found in the education system itself, which is no longer running smoothly at all. Governments, but also citizens, should have noticed this and acted well before.
At least this crisis has the positive side that it is made visible thanks to the picketing which must be remembered as a landmark. Because the crisis will not disappear with the recycling of signs.
Today, the Prime Minister and his cronies are urging unions to show flexibility and then return to their neighborhoods. But sooner or later they will learn that the issue is beyond their understanding, that they have remained far too far from the damaged reality of public schools for long and that they no longer have the authority to impose their solutions.