The deputies of the confederal group of United We Can-En Comú Podem-Galicia en Común Joan Mena and Miguel Ángel Bustamante have registered an initiative in Congress for the Government to make “changes in current regulations and carry out the necessary actions” to that it is possible to “reduce in a generalized way the ratios of students per classroom” for the next school year.
Both deputies specify in their non-registered law proposal to be debated in the Education and Vocational Training Commission that this action must be done “in a coordinated manner with the autonomous communities and educational administrations” and that its implementation will serve for “the improvement of the quality of our educational system “.
Mena, spokesperson for the confederal group in the Education Commission, has warned that after lowering the ratios in classrooms during the 2020-2021 academic year, most of the autonomous communities have decided not to maintain this measure for the course that is about to be completed. to begin with, so that “the reality in terms of ratios goes back to the pre-pandemic era.”
They also consider that its positive effect to fight the pandemic, “allows a more personalized attention that can hardly be given with other mechanisms, and helps reduce school failure at all levels of education.”
“The reduction of the ratios is a demand of the teachers at all educational levels and, especially, in nursery and primary education. It is not unusual to find classes in the compulsory education stages with more than 30 students or even high school groups that reach 37 students, where the teaching staff dedicates more time to maintaining order than to teaching and learning, “the deputies point out.
In the same way, Joan Mena and Miguel Ángel Bustamante confirm that despite the fact that the average of ratios in Spain is similar to that of the European Union (EU23) “that average includes schools such as rural ones, with many fewer students as a result of the depopulation “because of what” in many cities the ratios are much higher and, without a doubt, they exceed the limits to be able to ensure educational quality “.
They also recalled that in the past school year the drop in ratios was “easy to implement” , provided there is “political will and greater investment in education.” They have also warned that what Spain has “still a long way to go to reach the European average” is in educational spending, as it is “the fifth with the lowest percentage of public spending devoted to education, 4% of GDP. while the EU average stands at 4.7% and in countries like Sweden it reaches 6.9% “.
