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Schools across the Region of Murcia will remain open this Thursday and Friday, September 24 and 25, even as more than 25,000 teachers are expected to take part in a national strike. The Autonomous Community has published minimum service levels in the Official Gazette of the Region of Murcia (BORM), ensuring that public schools stay open and pupils are looked after despite the walkout.

 

Coverage will range between 15% and 25% of teaching staff, depending on the type and size of each centre, with Early Childhood and Special Education schools requiring a higher staff presence to guarantee safety and proper supervision. Nurseries catering for children aged 0 to 3 will need at least the director present, while those for ages 3 to 6 must have between two and three teachers on hand. Special education schools will keep their own management teams in place, along with a number of teachers ranging from one to 27, depending on the school.

 

Preschool and primary schools must maintain their headteacher and head of studies, plus between two and six teachers depending on how many classes are running. Any school with a cafeteria needs a designated teacher on duty, and those offering open classrooms must have a Special Education or Speech and Language specialist available. Secondary schools require between one and three teachers, alongside the principal and head of studies, while adult education centres, vocational training schools, language schools and conservatories must each keep a principal, head of studies and one teacher on site.

 

The strike has been organised by the minority union Sindi-k, and it lacks backing from Murcia's larger teaching unions. Its central demand is greater job security for substitute teachers and an end to temporary contracts in the profession, alongside calls for more transparency in how schools and the wider education administration are run.

 

Víctor Marín, the Region's Education Minister, told La Opinión on Wednesday that the regional government has no clear sense of how much support the strike will attract locally. "There is no entity from the organising committee on the Regional Education Sectoral Board," he said, adding that officials "will monitor it" closely over the two days.

 

Any staff who join the strike will not be paid for the hours they miss.

 

 

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