Education protest in Spain: Teachers on strike, students on barricades

In Madrid, one of the 17 autonomous administrations in Spain, education personnel went on an indefinite strike, upon the call of unions affiliated with the education sector, demanding the improvement of educational conditions in the region.

Supporting the teachers and education personnel who went on strike, demanding improvements in working hours, transferring resources for quality education, reducing student-teacher ratios in classrooms, and a raise of up to 600 euros in their monthly salaries, students organized protests in the streets of the capital with wide participation and intervention by the police.

During the action at Complutense University, tensions occurred between student demonstrators and the police.

The police, who intervened against the demonstrators, announced that they detained 5 people and reported that 6 people, including 2 police officers, were injured.

Students also demonstrated in the city center and closed some main roads to traffic.

It was learned that a more comprehensive protest by students and teachers will be held in the evening.

On the other hand, the Madrid autonomous administration, where the right-wing People's Party (PP), which is the main opposition in Spain, is in power, announced that the participation in the strike in the education sector was 44 percent.

Mercedes Zarzalejo, Minister of Education, Science and Universities in the Madrid autonomous government government, argued that the strike was in the nature of a "political and election campaign", referring to the early general elections to be held on November 29.

Zarzalejo noted that despite the strike, minimum educational services in nurseries are guaranteed, with one teacher for every 50 students in primary schools, one teacher for every 90 students in secondary schools, and one teacher for every 15 students in private education centers.

Arguing that the number of teachers working in schools in Madrid in the 2026-2027 academic year exceeded 95 thousand and reached a "historic peak", Zarzalejo said that he started negotiations with the unions to provide an increase of up to 350 euros per month in teacher salaries and that they allocated a total budget of 7 billion euros annually for education, with an increase of 3.9 percent compared to the previous year.

Madrid autonomous government head of government Isabel Diaz Ayuso also claimed that the strike was "political".

Meanwhile, in the statement made by the unions, which claimed that participation in the strike was at 70 percent, the following statements were made:

"This strike marks the culmination of a process of mobilization among teachers that has been going on for several academic years. The refusal of the education department of the Madrid autonomous government to negotiate or make improvements, combined with the inadequate funding and the increasingly deteriorating situation of public education in Madrid, forced the teaching staff in Madrid to take this decision to strike in June."