The week in which the commission of inquiry into the Begoña Gómez case is approved, Isabel Díaz Ayuso inaugurates the new university academic year and announces new measures. The president advances in her educational reform with incentives for university education and against the ideological battle of the left. Her agenda for the Madrid educational reform has coincided with the approval of the commission on the relationship between Gómez and the Complutense.
The PP proposed its creation in the Chamber of Vallecas and its absolute majority has ratified the initiative. The Popular Party voted to investigate possible irregularities in the teaching and postgraduate programs of the Complutense University and the rector, Joaquín Goyache, has confirmed that he will go if he is summoned“I will attend, I have nothing to hide, I will collaborate,” he told LA RAZON during the opening of the Academic Year at the Getafe campus of the Carlos III University.
The commission will also investigate other cases related to alleged preferential treatment of companies that financed these programs, as was made clear in the first plenary session of the course where the president took a further step in the escalation of educational proposals. Before, Ayuso announced that Madrid universities will have funding by objectives and the rectors must be professors, a further step in the escalation of measures with which she intends to reform Madrid education and “shield” it from the Government’s laws. The popular offensive in higher institutions involves the drafting of a new rule, in the consultation phase, which will force candidates for rector to be at least accredited to be professors, a requirement that had been withdrawn from the University Law of Pedro Sánchez’s Government, which Ayuso aims to put counterweights in the regionIn addition to additional funding for targeted contributions, the new law will include a multi-year model, reviewable every five years, which will include basic funding for the normal operation of higher education institutions and other funding for specific needs.
The business schools will have specific regulations and a framework will be designed to connect the University with Vocational Training in a more operational way. That is, higher degrees with the company. “We must return the classrooms and chairs to the best,” Ayuso wanted to emphasize at the beginning of the course and warn that some ideologies seek to “break” bridges between “the university, research and the company.”
The president has increased the pressure on Moncloa, warning that will compensate for the “ideological excesses” of the coalition government’s laws and has advanced the crusade against the left’s educational agenda. In addition to his traditional defence of effort and meritocracy, he has also joined the “fight” against “the politicisation of institutions” and the “ideological excesses” of the Sánchez Law, which he intends to counter with his own law within the autonomous framework of Madrid, which aims to consolidate itself as the capital of studies in Spanish. In fact, this will be the first academic year in which Latin American students pay the same tuition as Spaniards and the rest of the European community students.
The political year in the region began with Ayuso’s homework to her Government to advance in the improvement of Infant and Primary education and has continued this week with the implementation of others in ESO and University. Her reform involves continuing to reduce students per classroom in public schools and avoiding excessive schedules for the youngest. After announcing the implementation of the split day, the popular leader has insisted on the defense of schedules adapted to the youngest, healthy habits and the commitment to extracurricular activities in schools or centers in the students’ environment.
From now on, schools will not be able to modify their school day and go from starting to continuing. Ayuso made it clear that, starting in the 2025/26 academic year, the new public Infant and Primary schools, which will also include 1st and 2nd years of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO), will have split shifts. The measure aims, among other objectives, to facilitate the reconciliation between work and family life, as well as ensuring that children and young people remain in a familiar, safe and supervised environment.
Ayuso’s education reform has received a barrage of criticism from the opposition. The leader of Más Madrid, Manuela Bergerotgave a “fail” to the president’s management and the PSOE’s Juan Lobato, defended an increase in aid for Infant, Primary and Secondary education, as well as higher remuneration for teachers.
The socialist has raised his tone against Ayuso this week, aware of the attention she is attracting in his own ranks. The first plenary session of the year in the Chamber of Vallecas has increased interest in the survival of the general secretary of the Madrid socialists. On the tightrope due to his opposition to some of Pedro Sánchez’s decisions, Lobato is in the sights of Ferraz. His management of the commission of inquiry into the Complutense and Begoña Gómez could decide his leadership at the head of the Madrid socialists. The Government delegate, Francisco Martín, is one of the names being considered as an alternative candidate.
Despite the photographs of Lobato and him staging harmony between the two, few doubt the apparatus’ preferences for the former, above all, for his continuous criticism of Ayuso and Almeida, which could receive its reward, as has once again happened to Mercedes González.
Gonzalez’s “Loyalty”
Pedro Sánchez has rewarded the “loyalty” of the current deputy with the position of director general of the Civil Guard, a position he had held for only a few months and had left a seat in the socialist bench to be secured.
González, a veteran of the Madrid socialist movement, lands in the Civil Guard coinciding with investigations affecting the PSOE and the entourage of the President of the Government. Seasoned in Madrid politics, she aspired to lead the PSOE in Madrid until Sánchez promoted her to the Government Delegation and Lobato took over the federation. Each to his own.