Health vocational training students from public centers in the Community of Madrid have been on strike since January 19 because, less than a month before the internship period begins, there is no job in any hospital or health center of the entire region. He regional governmentalthough he has admitted the existence of a problem since the beginning of the protests and affirms to be working on a “shock plan” to guarantee places, does not assume its responsibility and attributes the situation to the contribution of scholarship recipients imposed by the central government.
Those affected denounce that, if the problem is not resolved before March, which is when the deadline to carry out internships in the different FP cycles begins, around 800 people will not be able to complete their studies this year or obtain their degree. According to his testimony, the main cause of this lack of places is due to the fact that hospitals prioritize students from private centers, who pay for each one of them.
Among the demands, the students demand more places in Community Vocational Trainingwhile demanding internships from the regional government for all public vocational training students, as well as un decree that guarantees these practices to the current Minister of Health, Mónica García. In response to these demands, the spokesperson for the Government of the Community of Madrid, Miguel Angel Garciastated on Wednesday that the Ministry of Health and Education continue to work together to solve this situation and assured that “there is notable progress” in this regard, although without specifying further.
“The situation remains the same or worse,” students lament
Despite these words, around a hundred people gathered again yesterday in front of the Madrid Assembly because they condemn that they have not had “any news” and “the situation remains the same or worse”, since they have not yet informed many institutes of the places available when “there are middle and higher grades that should start now at the beginning of March” their practices, according to what the Student Union spokesperson told the media, Celia del Barrio.
This second concentration is added to the protests held last Tuesday in front of the regional Parliament and the previous one in front of the doors of the Ministry of Education, Science and Universities. And there will be more, since, in view of the little or no progress, those gathered yesterday in front of the Regional Chamber held an assembly in which They approved to continue with the strikeas well as call a demonstration for next Sunday which teachers can also attend.
The Assembly knocks down a proposal to reform the internship system
At the same time that this was happening, the chamber hosted this Thursday a Plenary Session of the Assembly whose last item on the agenda was the debate of a Non-Law Proposition (PNL) presented by the representative of Más Madrid Bea Borras for, on the one hand, urgently expand places intended for curricular practices in the public sector and, on the other, establish criteria that prioritize students from public institutes in agreements with publicly owned health centers.
NLP was rejected with votes against PP and Vox, who had presented amendments asking to eliminate the second point, an extreme that Más Madrid opposed. During his defense, Borrás accused the Government of Isabel Diaz Ayuso of “dismantling public education through the back door”, of “lying to the faces” of students by ensuring that the Madrid vocational training model is “enviable”, as stated last Tuesday by the general director of Education, Luz Rodriguez; as well as “throwing the ball out” in solving the problem.
In response, the PP deputy Mirina Cortés Ortega stuck to the argument put forward by Rodríguez in the Education, Science and Universities Commission at the beginning of the week, again attributing the “difficulties” in allocating places to the increase in demand, but, above all, to the legal reform of the central Executive that requires the payment of internships.
And, according to the popular representative, although she is also concerned that “not a single student” will be left without being able to do their internships and graduate, the regulatory change approved by the Government of Pedro Sánchez regarding scholarship recipients has caused that ” many companies, especially SMEs” and “many public administrations” have “stated that they will not be able to take care of the interns” since they “cannot bear the costs.”