The Associacions Federades de Famílies d’Alumnes de Catalunya (aFFaC) put on the table again an issue that they have been insisting on for years: the irregularity of demanding the installment payment to families to, among other things, cover the cost of center maintenance. The federation of Catalan afas denounces that it has been aware of some cases in which families were asked to pay a fee for concepts such as “inventory maintenance of physical education, music and patios”, “rental of reprographic equipment and photocopies” or ” adaptation and maintenance of spaces”. All this concepts, which, as they reiterate from the aFFAc“legally you cannot financially charged to families“.
In that same line it is pronounced forceful Martha Minguella, general secretary of CGT Education, who adds that, in addition, these quotas also suppose “segregation and classism“, and are part of” the trend of recent years to stratify public schools. “The quotas are illegal. Families would not have to pay any fees in public schools. None. You are welcome. But as long as the public one continues to collect fees, it is justified for the concerted one to do so,” the unionist concludes bluntly.
“As long as the public continues to collect fees, it is justified for the concerted one to do so”
Marta Minguella, CGT Catalunya
The aFFac published in the 2019 a study that confirmed that the collection of quotas was a widespread practice in the Catalan education system, a practice that they not only consider illegal but, they underline, “confirms not only the underfunding of the public education system, unable to support itself without the contribution of families, but also violation of the principle of gratuitousness which must govern education rights and the increase in inequalities between educational centers according to socioeconomic level of families, thus perpetuating the problems of segregation that Catalonia suffers”.
And the material?
This study indicates that almost all public educational centers charge families a school supplies fee. Despite the fact that, the study itself insists, this payment is “illegal”. “This has been institutionalized to the point where 82% of the AFAs consulted believed that the payment of the material was mandatory“, indicates the report. This goes further, indicating that four out of 10 afa affirm that in their centers “not paying the fee for school supplies has consequences”. What consequences? The main: refer these families to social services for them to assume the payment of the fee.
From the aFFac They also point out that “it is striking” that the educational system is in this situation “being Catalonia one of the autonomous communities with the highest GDP per capita, in fourth position in the state ranking”.
“Free and universal” canteen
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In fact, from the aFFac They demand that even the dining room service – whose fees have risen for the second consecutive year – be free and universal. Added to this petition entities like Save the Children or Educo. The school menus in Catalonia have gone this course from 6.33 to 6.54 euros for the permanent ones -the boys and girls who stay on a regular basis- and from 6.96 to 7.19 euros, for those who do so on a regular basis. punctual form.
The federation of student families has been working for a long time, as they recalled during the press conference at the start of the course, for “an educational model that recognizes noon time, including dining service, as part of instructional time and that, therefore, guarantees this service free, close and sustainable”.