Families of the Zaragoza high school where a teacher convicted of abuse teaches classes protest to change the law

Mothers and fathers of IES Goya of Zaragoza have called this Monday, November 18, at 2:00 p.m., a concentration in front of the doors of the institute, with the aim of demanding a reform of the law protecting children and adolescents against violence. They denounce that the current regulations, although requiring a negative certificate of sexual crimes to work with minors, It does not contemplate disqualification for other crimes of violence, such as abuse or sexist violence..

The trigger for this mobilization is the situation of a teacher at the institute itself, convicted of continued abuse towards his ex-wife and three children, who continues to legally practice teaching. A context that already mobilized the students of IES Goya last October, who staged a sit-in in rejection of the continuity of this teacher.

The figure in question, Luis Antonio Irzo Buenoformer councilor of the Popular Party of Huesca, sentenced in 2019 to seven years in prison for sexist violence, although he avoided going to prison thanks to a sentence divided into sentences of less than two years. The story of Paloma Delgadohis ex-wife, did not leave anyone indifferent. During an interview with Publicas well as in several reports, Delgado spoke of the hellish years she suffered with the three minors under the attacks and humiliation of her then husband.

The current law, approved in 2021, does not prevent people convicted of other violence, such as gender violence, that is not sexual in nature from working with minors. This has generated great indignation, since it not only affects the educational environment, but also other sectors where there is regular contact with children and adolescents.

“It is not only a problem of legality, but of ethics,” said a mother from the center in statements to Public a few weeks ago. Families consider that keeping a person with such a serious history of violence in the classroom means normalize abuse and send a contradictory message to minors. The protest seeks to pressure the Government to expand the regulations and prohibit access to work for minors to anyone convicted of violent crimes.

What’s more, the blog Decent Teachers in the Classrooms has launched a collection of signatures to bring this demand to Congress.