Education cuts: Protests spread to 11 French-speaking schools in Brussels

Protests against cuts to French-speaking education led to strikes in 11 schools in Brussels on Wednesday. 

The affected schools were the Institut Sainte-Marie (Saint-Gilles), the Institut des Arts et Métiers (City of Brussels), ESP Karreveld (Molenbeek), Inraci (Forest), the Athénée Fernand Blum (Schaarbeek), the Athénée des Pagodes (Neder-Over-Hembeek), the École Active (Uccle), École Secondaire Plurielle Maritime (Molenbeek), Athénée Robert Catteau (City of Brussels), Institut Saint-Vincent de Paul (Uccle) and Athénée Charles Janssens (Ixelles).

A protest also took place outside the parliament of the French Community on Wednesday, Bruzz reports, to confront French-speaking minister for education Valérie Glatigny (MR).

“It’s an excellent opportunity to see her in person, given that she is cancelling her visits to schools and is afraid of the teachers to whom she cannot justify her reforms,” read a call to action from Mars Attacks, the protest movement against cuts to French-language education.

Glatigny will respond in the parliament of the French Community to questions regarding adjustments to the salaries of a large number of French-speaking teachers. 

These adjustments are said not to have been correctly communicated, and there is discontent about it within the French-speaking education sector, on top of the opposition to the education reforms.

Both teachers and pupils participated in the various actions, which they intend to continue until the national strike day on Friday 9 October in Brussels.

“We want to make it clear to young people what the consequences of the reforms are,” said one of the pupils on the picket line outside the entrance to Athénée Charles Janssens in Ixelles.

"We want them to understand in concrete terms what changes are taking place this school year, why this affects us and why we are taking action against it."

One teacher said the reforms were already being felt on the ground. Among other things, teachers have less time to support pupils or organise activities.

Sébastien Demarche of Mars Attacks told Bruzz that he does not rule out the possibility that pupils and teachers at other schools in Brussels will join the protests. 

In Wallonia and France, too, pupils are currently staging protests demanding better educational conditions. In France, lessons were fully or partially suspended on Wednesday in 528 schools and a large number of students were arrested.