They call a demonstration against school segregation on November 29 in Bilbao

Harro Topagunea of the Basque Public School has called ademonstration in Bilbao on 29 November in support of the public school and against school segregation.

Ordizia has been the sceneof this Saturday's meeting , in which the members of the platform say that "Ordizia is a living example of school segregation that encompasses our entire educational system."

Members of the platform have denounced that "the imbalance between the two schools in Ordizia, one public and one concerted, is worrying". "Almost all students or families with social needs are in public school, as well as 87 per cent of students of foreign origin", which implies "a serious imbalance in enrolment, depending on the origin of the families, the knowledge of the Basque language and the socio-economic situation of the families", they warn.

That is why they stress that Ordizia is "a perfect reflection of the Department of Education's neglect and unwillingness to solve the problem of school segregation."

Intervention by the Ombudsman

In 2019, the Ararteko issued a resolutioncalling onthe Department of Education  to take measures to "achieve a greater balance between the two centres in the distribution of students".

However, they report that the Ararteko concluded in a June report that "six years later the problem persists in Ordizia;that the Department of Education  has not taken sufficient corrective measures and that there is a significant imbalance in the distribution of students between the two publicly funded schools ".

In that sense, the measures that have been taken over the years "have not served any purpose, because they have not addressed the real problem, our dual segregation system," said the Public School Proud group. "If there was only one school in Ordizia, there would be no segregation," they added.

Thus, they have stated that in order to deal with school segregation, it is necessary to "have real political will and implement effective measures: to give priority to the public network in the processes of planning and awarding places, to increase the provision of human and material resources, to progressively reduce the oversupply of places and to agree on the private network, and to open channels of publication for schools that wish to do so", among others.

Demonstration in Bilbao

Harro Topagunea of the Basque Public School has called for policies aimed at "directing the majority of families towards an inclusive, pluralistic and Basque single school, the public school, because it is impossible to achieve a society of free and equal people without equal education".

"And it is equally impossible to educate on equality by maintaining private networks supported by public money, to the detriment of public school, where private education always moves away from the values of equality and freedom," they say.

They have therefore called for the mobilization of all those who are in favour of the public on 29 November in Bilbao in favour of the public school.