They denounce their inaction in the face of serious mental health problems among students and teachers: “The situation is unsustainable”
In just over a year at the head of the Ministry of Education, the former deputy of Vox María Isabel Campuzano has garnered the unanimous rejection of all the non-university education unions, who demanded this Wednesday morning from the president of the Community his dismissal immediate. Fed up with their management, rudeness and lack of reaction to the alarming problems in the classrooms, the teachers’ union representatives warned that the situation is “unsustainable”, denounced the progressive deterioration of the mental health of teachers and students, and threatened with demonstrations if Campuzano is not dismissed.
The list of criticisms and reasons for complaint against the policy of the head of Education is extensive. The counselor, they denounce, has not attended to their labor demands nor has she responded to requests that they consider urgent, such as addressing the mental situation of the students, which, as they denounced on numerous occasions, has deteriorated after the pandemic.
Luis Alberto Prieto, from the Sidi union and president of the representative body of the more than 20,000 Murcian teachers, explained that the dismissal request was adopted unanimously because “it responds to the unanimous feeling of all teachers. We request the immediate dismissal of the Minister of Education, and we could talk for hours and hours about the reasons. Among them, the resounding refusal to negotiate with teachers and to reverse the cuts; the working conditions of teachers and in which classes are taught are being degraded by forced marches. They are getting worse and worse, more and more features and less and less support.”
If there is an issue that especially worries teachers, it is the lack of response from the Ministry to the deterioration of the mental health of students and teachers. “The situation is unsustainable. We cannot continue to support neither the policies nor the management with dramatic consequences for the student body,” denounced José Manuel Fernández, from the Sterm, who assured that if in 2019 2,500 psychiatric discharges were processed among teachers, in 2021 they rose to 4,000. “They have gone from being the third cause of sick leave to becoming the first,” he warned. For teachers, this worsening of mental health in the classroom “has to do with worsening conditions,” the representatives of CC OO and Anpe also warned.
mobilizations
If the mental health of teachers is a concern, that of the students also keeps the teachers in suspense, who demanded means and warned of the critical moment. “Students have to be provided with resources. With protocols we do not solve the problem, and we cannot look the other way. Cases of autolysis have multiplied, and there are students who are taking their own lives,” said Susana Valverde, from UGT. The representatives of the Teaching Staff Board advanced that if the president of the Community does not dismiss the counselor, they will initiate a calendar of mobilizations.
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