housands of students and teachers came together, outside the classroom, in protest against education cuts and reforms in Spain.

Instead they took to the streets mainly gathering in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The strike action affected all levels of education from nursery to university.

Unions claim up to 70 per cent of Spanish teachers took part in the national strike. Organisers of the protest, The Platform for the Defence of Public Schools, are concerned cuts to scholarships are running down the state school system and creating elitism within higher education.

Spain has seen almost daily protests by people angry over austerity measures while banks have been bailed out with billions of euros.

While the central and regional governments claim cuts are necessary to help shrink its swollen deficit, the country has remained in recession for four years now and has a record of more than 27 percent unemployment rate.


euronews