The poor results of the PISA report on education in Catalonia have been a disaster. The students are, compared to 2012, two grades below in reading, one and a half in mathematics, and another in science. The Government expected these numbers and the Minister of Education, Anna Simó, demanded to “close ranks.” Today, Pere Aragonès has asked to speak in Parliament to call a meeting with the leaders of the parliamentary groups of the Catalan Chamber to agree on measures and “reverse” these bad results. The president has made it clear that it is a structural problem, so initiatives should be carried out without "electroshocks or superficial measures."
“I ask to speak, not to make excuses, but to assume responsibilities and assume the commitment to reverse this situation,” Aragonès stressed, before admitting that the conclusions have not taken the Government by surprise. The president recalled that a monograph on education was held in June, the conclusions of which are the starting point for improving the Catalan educational system. “We must be willing to make brave changes, accompanied by more resources,” he stated, but for this he considers maximum political support necessary.
Aragonès has addressed the entire educational community. He has asked for stability for teachers and confidence. “Prestige them.” He has asked families to trust teachers and has invited them to go hand in hand and recognize the authority of teachers – “we have often heard that teachers have to regain authority.” He has also called for paying more attention to the students. And he has addressed the deputies directly to avoid “partisanship,” since it is, in his opinion, “a structural challenge.”
The head of the Government has called for improving linguistic skills and fighting against segregation, failure and school dropouts. Likewise, he has requested an agreement for the defense of Catalan in the classrooms, something, the latter, that has been refuted by Vox, Cs and the PP.
The PISA report was made public on December 5. The councilor appeared in public on the 11th. Aragonès did so today. Practically the majority of parliamentary groups have reproached him for his delay, and some, like Junts, have demanded that the meeting be held with the entire educational community.
The president's intervention has opened the floor for the parliamentary groups. Salvador Illa, leader of the PSC, has assured that Aragonès's reaction "arrives late and with a point of haste due to forms." Illa has highlighted that the PISA results are one of the most obvious failures of his Government. Even so, he has agreed, like the rest of the parties, to attend the meeting, but has demanded that the measures announced by Simó be left on hold until the table meets. “One thing is to go hand in hand and another is adhesion,” he criticized.
Albert Batet, leader of JxCat, has reproached the president for having “taken almost ten days to assess the PISA results, beyond two tweets.” “It is a new example of what respect for groups is,” he added.
On behalf of Vox, Ignacio Garriga has intervened, who has criticized that Aragonès did not refer to the lack of “the culture of effort”, or that he does not admit that part of the failure, in his opinion, is due to the impossibility of some students to attend school in their mother tongue. The far-right deputy joked that until today the Catalan educational system was spoken of as a “model of success”. A reproach that has also come from Carlos Carrizosa, leader of Cs in the Parliament, and Alejandro Fernández, president of the PP in Catalonia.
Carrizosa has criticized the fact that the Catalan school has been used as a social laboratory and that an obsolete system has been “fossilized,” which is, in his opinion, linguistic immersion. Fernández recalled that Catalan education obtains poor results in other reports, beyond that of PISA.
On behalf of the CUP, Carles Riera has pointed out that the poor results are a consequence of social inequalities and the governments' public policies on education. “We assume the challenge and responsibility of participating in the educational transformation of the Catalan school, we close ranks, but the Government has to assume that majority consensus must be applied: reverse all the cuts of 2010, so that Educació reaches 6% of the total budget, lower the ratios and more reception classrooms,” the man from Cuba warned. “I beg you not to focus on Parliament what is the responsibility of the Government, do your homework,” he concluded.
Also Jéssica Albiac, leader of the commons in the Parliament, has confirmed that they will be at the meeting, but has reproached these “eight days of silence” from the president. She has recalled that ERC has been in charge of Education for six years and has recriminated that screens have been “sacralized and books belittled.”
