Of course, we will be alongside all teachers. Alongside the entire education sector itself, because it is not only teachers who will be affected, but also the organizing authorities and the public service in charge of infrastructure in which the government wants to reduce budgets.
We have always been the great defenders of school, because it is the cornerstone of our society. We will be alongside all the actors who will mobilize this week. The PS will also bring their voice to parliament, but I fear that the government will be deaf to our proposals.
Strike by French-speaking teachers on November 26: “It is not classes, but entire schools that will have to close”
Monday in the budget committee of the FWB parliament, you will have the opportunity to speak on this subject, but what are the points that annoy the PS?
We are witnessing a ransacking of official education in which the government wants to make unprecedented savings. However, this education faces difficulties in terms of infrastructure and student reception.
The government is sending a message of savings of 46 million euros per year, or between 600 and 1,000 jobs. He asks to remove adult students from qualifying, without support, while these students are already among the most vulnerable. In higher education too, this is the first time in at least three legislatures that the budget has been reduced.
There is a real desire to make our teaching less cutting-edge, to not tackle the issues of dropping out of school, not to look into the issues of helping students succeed and not to fight against teacher shortages as announced by the Minister of Education, Valérie Glatigny.
Sud Info also revealed that 90,000 students are in a situation of dropping out of school. Are you saying that the government is doing nothing to fix the situation?
That’s correct. The qualifying education reform proposed by the majority will structure school dropouts and the exclusion of a group of students. And, above all, we can clearly see that Valérie Glatigny’s response is to postpone the problem until later, while we are waiting for immediate action.
Here’s why teachers will be on strike on November 26 in French-speaking schools
These measures contribute to budgetary consolidation. Are they not necessary?
The question of balanced budgets is obviously important; all political parties in power are responsible and must be attentive to this. Today, the MR says that we must make savings, as if the question of savings became a policy as such.
The government is also announcing a set of expenses which have not yet been counted today. I am thinking, for example, of the end of status. In FWB, we did the calculation with conservative figures and we estimated the cost of the measure at 500 million euros.
I want to hear about savings, but I don’t think I have any lessons to learn from a government that wants to make it an ideological measure.
