The main education employers' associations in Spain have been asking the government and the parliamentary arc for moderation and dialogue these weeks in view of the announcement of the draft education law that will replace the current one (LOMCE). On the 25th, both Catholic Schools (EC) as the Spanish Confederation of Educational Centers (CECE) issued separate communiqués after meeting separately with the Minister of Education, Isabel Celaá, who had appeared before the Education Committee of the Congress of Deputies.
EC has appealed to the "moderation and wisdom of the entire parliamentary arc in the processing of the new education law".in order to "dialogue should prevail in order to reach a consensus law far from extreme positions". The directors of the employers' association, headed by its secretary general, José María Alvira, thanked the Education Minister for her visit, which "in his latest public interventions, he has recognized the positive role of the subsidized education that Escuelas Católicas represents", and have requested that "the new law should take into account the freedom of education and the role of parents in the education of their children, similar to what is already being done in most European Union countries.".
The representatives of EC have also expressed some specific demands of the sector regarding free high school, the education from 0 to 3 years also for subsidized centers, or that the new law does not allow the autonomous communities to "develop under its protection interventionist laws that harm a fundamental part of our educational system, as is the concerted education".
Avoid extreme positions
In parallel, leaders of CECE with its president, Alfonso Aguiló, have conveyed in their meeting with the minister Celaá "The Ministry of Education has expressed its desire to collaborate in the drafting of the new law and its willingness to achieve consensus on the most sensitive issues that pose a risk to educational plurality. Our country needs laws that do not fall into extreme positions and that can remain in place for years, without turning upside down with every political change"..
After thanking the minister for convening the meeting, the president of CECE requested that "do not legislate in a way that is harmful to the subsidized education system by taking refuge in the demands of its political partners or in data from the Community of Madrid that are being disseminated and that are not true".. CECE's directors insisted "They reiterated the sector's social commitment to the low-income and immigrant population, as well as to the inclusion of students with special needs, and reiterated the importance of basic regulations to protect the rights related to education throughout the State's territory.". The meeting also discussed "the attributions that the bill confers to the School Councils and what it means for the autonomy of the centers, as well as the need to find a satisfactory solution to the subject of Religion".
For his part, the president of the National Catholic Confederation of Parents of Students (Concapa), Pedro Caballero, recognizes that he is "alert". "We do not know if fundamental rights such as choosing our children's education are going to be violated, because in the agreement they talk about shielding the public school as the backbone of the education system, and we fear that what is not shielded on"he said.
In addition, Caballero questions the new government's announcements of "eliminate school segregation based on students' conditions of origin, special educational needs or gender."which is attributed to subsidized centers that offer differentiated education. "There is no segregation in this country, and if they think there is segregation, then they are not segregated.The Concapa president adds, "They are already taking too long to denounce. "Yes there is differentiated education, and it is supported by court rulings." Caballero points out.
Background
As Palabra reported in its December issue, confidence has not recovered in the sector after the well-known statements of the then government spokeswoman, Isabel Celaá, who lashed out against subsidized education and the rights of parents in the middle of the EC congress.
In her speech before two thousand people, the minister questioned the freedom of parents to choose an educational center and the religious or moral teaching they want for their children. She said exactly the following: "In no way can it be said that the right of parents to choose a religious education or to choose an educational center could be part of the freedom of education. Those facts, those of choosing centers, will be part of the rights that parents and mothers may have under the legal conditions to be determined, but they are not a strict emanation of the freedom recognized in Article 27 of the Spanish Constitution".
Celaá's words caused deep concern among the organizers of the event, EC, and in view of the Ministry's subsequent communiquéI wonder why this insistence on proving that the right of parents to choose a center is not a constitutional right. Are they considering restricting this right recognized in the socialist laws? said Luis Centeno, deputy general secretary of EC.
CECE, on the other hand, expressed its "concern about the intention of the Minister of Education to curtail the constitutional freedom of choice of educational center", and noted that "it is difficult to imagine freedom of education without freedom of school choice". He also cited Article 26.3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that "that parents shall have a preferential right to choose the type of education to be given to their children".
A global education pact
At the same time, as May 14 approaches, the date on which the Pope has convened in Rome a World Day on the need to weave a Global education pactFrancis refers more intensely to the objective of this meeting.
The most recent one was on the 20th. An educational revolution that will help humanity to be "more fraternal, more supportive, more inclusive.". This is what the Pope said in an address to the participants of the plenary session of the Congregation for Catholic Education in view of the May Day.
Joining forces
"Never before." -said the Pontiff, "there has been so much need to join forces in a broad educational alliance to form mature people, capable of rebuilding the fabric of human relationships in the name of compassion and responsibility. But to achieve these goals requires courage. The courage to put the person at the center, the courage to form people willing to put themselves at the service of the community. An educational revolution that helps to find balance with oneself, with others, with nature and with the environment. God.
A few days earlier, on February 7, in an address to the forty participants in the seminar organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences on Education: the global compact, the Holy Father expressed his joy at the fact that they are reflecting on this topic, given that today "It is necessary to join efforts to achieve a broad educational alliance with a view to forming mature people, capable of rebuilding the fabric of relationships and creating a more fraternal humanity.".
Alliances, agreements
In one way or another, the Pope uses with increasing insistence, when speaking of education, the terms covenant, alliance, agreements, joining efforts... In this seminar, his words underlined that "despite the goals and targets formulated by the United Nations and other agencies, and the significant efforts made by some countries, education remains unequal among the world's population".". He added: "Poverty, discrimination, climate change, the globalization of indifference, the reification of human beings wither the flourishing of millions of creatures. In fact, they represent for many an almost insurmountable wall that prevents the achievement of the objectives and goals of sustainable and guaranteed development that people have set for themselves".
The Pope went on to note that "educating is not only transmitting concepts, but it is a task that requires that all those responsible for the family, school and social, cultural and religious institutions become involved in it in solidarity", and that "to educate we must seek to integrate the language of the head with the language of the heart and the language of the hands.".
A "broken" pact
The Pontiff emphasized in his speeches that "this educational pact, that between the family, the school, the country and the world, the culture and the cultures.", "today it is in crisis, it is broken".. "It's broken, and very broken." -said Francisco. "and it cannot be glued or recomposed, it cannot be darned, but through a renewed effort of generosity and universal agreement.".
At the same time, he explained that the breakdown of the educational pact means that both society and the family, or the various institutions called upon to educate, delegate this decisive educational task to others, "thus evading the responsibility of the various basic institutions and the States themselves that have given up on this educational pact".
Culture of encounter
"Only with greater involvement of families and local communities in educational projects." it will be possible to "to promote a culture of dialogue, encounter and mutual understanding, in a peaceful, respectful and tolerant manner. An education that enables to identify and foster true human values within an intercultural and interreligious perspective".
To this end, "The family needs to be valued in the new educational pact, since its responsibility already begins in the womb, at the moment of birth. But mothers, fathers, grandparents, and the family as a whole, in their primary educational role, need help to understand, in the new global context, the importance of this early stage of life, and to be prepared to act accordingly." n
