Early childhood education professionals mobilized this Tuesday in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, marching through San Telmo Park, to demand improvements in their working conditions. The main demand focuses on the need for an agreement that reflects the importance of their work and ensures a quality educational environment for the youngest children.
“"The zero to three educational stage is not daycare, it is education. It is where bonds, security, learning, and the future are built, and today that is not being cared for as it deserves."
Among the most prominent demands are the reduction of student-to-teacher ratios, which they consider "unfeasible" with the current number of professionals. They have pointed out that classrooms are saturated and that current salaries do not correspond to the responsibility involved in the care and education of early childhood.
A spokesperson for the zero to three years education platform in the Canary Islands explained that these demands are not new, but that the national momentum has encouraged the creation of this platform to fight for better conditions. A new mobilization, which could lead to a strike, has been announced for May 7.
“"We have two eyes for 26 children, which is unfeasible, this situation in general is unfeasible."
The educators have also highlighted that their salaries barely reach the interprofessional minimum wage and have requested the implementation of an "educational pair," meaning two professionals per classroom, to provide higher quality care. They emphasized that the lack of conditions is not due to a lack of vocation, but to the absence of resources and recognition.
The situation affects educators in municipal schools, both public and private, and those dependent on the Department of Social Welfare of the Government of the Canary Islands. In the latter case, the closure of two centers, one in Tenerife and another in Gran Canaria, has been announced for the next academic year.
