Spanish University Students Protest Against Education Cuts

The students of all public universities in Spain began today a day of strikes and demonstrations to show their opposition to the cuts made in education by the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy.

Convened by the student movement Take the Faculty, Madrid protests began last midnight with students sit-ins in various faculties of the six universities in this region.

The movement urged the university students to support the day of actions against the brutal rise of tuition fees, the mass dismissal of teachers and educational reforms proposed by the Minister of Education, José Ignacio Wert.

According to the movement, the severe budgetary adjustments undertaken by the central and regional executives, both led by the conservative Popular Party, are threatening social, teaching and investigative function of the state university.

If economic and political elites accelerate the privatization of higher education, the student must sharpen the pulse against their settings, their commercializing wave and austerity policies, stated Take the Faculty in a statement.

Under the slogan Education Will Not Pay Your Debt, a rally has been scheduled to the headquarters of the Ministry of Education, which will be supported by the major trade unions in this European country.