Going nowhere

THE Balearic government needs to think again and abandon its three language teaching system until teachers are properly trained. It is now becoming evidently clear, after talking to teachers and parents, that the Balearic government has rather "jumped the gun" and should have ensured that teachers were trained and prepared for the language system before it was introduced. The strike by teachers, which has now entered its third week, has widespread support. More than 80,000 people, almost 10 percent of the local population, marched through the streets of Palma yesterday calling for an education rethink. The new education system involves teaching in English, Spanish and Catalan. One parent told the Bulletin yesterday that her son had been taught maths for the first time in English and he had failed the subject for the first time. He didn´t have the level of English to master the subject and nor did his teacher. The Balearic government needs to read the writing on the wall. Eventhough they got a big majority at the last local elections this is not an excuse to ignore the wishes of tens of thousands of people. Do your homework and get teachers learning English before you try and implement highly ambitious education plans. Let us get this dispute resolved and get children back to school and learning again. The biggest victims of this strike are the pupils and there are no winners. Dialogue and consensus is the way forward.