New school year begins amid fresh strikes as conflict with teachers remains open

This Tuesday marks the first day of the new school year, a new academic course that opens amid tense conflict between teachers and the education department.

Last year there were already many days of strike action seen throughout Catalonia, and the first day of the new school year has started on the same foot.

The USTEC, CGT, Intersindical, and COS unions have all called for a strike on the first day of the new year, after they rejected the agreement reached between the ministry and the CCOO, UGT, and Secondary Teachers unions last May. 

Thus, 1,604,988 students, counting all the courses and educative systems, start a new academic year amid plenty of question marks.

Striking teachers demand that 6% of the GDP be invested in the education sector, with a specific calendar, protecting the Catalan language, more resources in classrooms, and lowering teacher-student ratios.

Another of the demands is to adapt educational centers to the current climate situation, with intense heat lasting well into September, and beginning earlier in summers too.

According to the Aules que Cremen platform, there were classrooms that exceeded 35°C in Barcelona on Monday, and 31°C in Almacelles.

As such, Tuesday has begun with protests and demonstrations to mark the first day of the academic year. The strike will see mobilizations and assemblies throughout Catalonia during the day.

Meanwhile, the school year also begins on the day that the results of the PISA 2025 report are announced, results that, in the case of Catalonia, are invalidated due to an administrative error, meaning they cannot be compared with other territories or the historical series.

The department of education announced the error in July that an average of 23.2% of students examined were exempt, far exceeding the 5% limit established by the OECD.

Weeks later, the education minister fired the secretary general of the department as a result. 

The year starts with an increase in staff of around 1,830 personnel, including 1,103 new teachers, 531 are educational care staff, and 196 administrative and service staff.

Another of the outstanding figures is the forecast of 2,141 reception classrooms for newly arrived students who don't yet have sufficient levels of Catalan or Spanish to take part in the general curriculum, which is an increase of around 800 on those projected by the department before the start of last year.

In addition, the intensive reception classrooms are being expanded from 27 to 45, that is, those that seek to allow newly arrived students to have intensive learning of the Catalan language in order to begin, as soon as possible, the learning process in the educational system.