Never one to miss the chance of a headline, last week Esperanza Aguirre, the Popular Party’s head of the regional government of Madrid, aroused the ire of Catalans and Basques when she called for the Copa del Rey soccer final to be played behind closed doors, “somewhere else”, rather than in the Spanish capital. Why? The likelihood of whistling and booing by fans of the two sides, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, during the playing of the Spanish national anthem, as happened when the two sides faced each other three years ago in the final, in Valencia. In the event, Aguirre took a rain check on the match, leaving Prince Felipe to stand stoically through the national anthem amid the catcalls … [Read more...] about Profile: Esperanza Aguirre, Spain’s very own iron lady
Esperanza Aguirre
Bilingual schooling obsession is gambling with children’s future
At the beginning of this school year, a mother commented to me that she had moved her daughter from one public school in Madrid to another in the same neighbourhood. When I asked why, she said it was because of the bilingual schools project that Esperanza Aguirre, president of Madrid's regional government, has created, which entails teaching 40-50 percent of the school curriculum in English, except mathematics and Spanish language. I was surprised to find out that in fact this mother had changed her daughter from a school that was about to enter the bilingual project to a school that had no intention of doing so. In a country that is so preoccupied with getting a grasp of the English … [Read more...] about Bilingual schooling obsession is gambling with children’s future
Tweets and gaffes confuse Madrid’s education debate
Esperanza Aguirre, President of the Region of Madrid, has had to use Twitter twice this month to remove her foot from her mouth. The first mix-up was on September 1, when she suggested that secondary teachers in Madrid only worked 20 hours a week, “much less than most Madrileños,” she claimed. Aguirre had previously made a rather sloppy attempt at communicating her decision to try to save €80 million for the region by sending a letter to affected civil servants with spelling mistakes. The letter, which stated that secondary teachers would have to increase weekly class hours from 18 to 20, angered educators, who claimed that more teaching hours and fewer interns (approximately 3,000) would … [Read more...] about Tweets and gaffes confuse Madrid’s education debate
The victim-turned-activist: a new kind of hero
When the father of a missing girl in Huelva captured the media spotlight in late 2007 as he led the search for his missing daughter, he capitalised on the nation’s attention to launch a national public awareness campaign about the flaws in the Spanish justice system. Five-year-old Mari Luz Cortés disappeared after she ran off to buy a bag of crisps at a neighbourhood kiosk. Following a massive two-month nationwide search her body was found in January 2008 in a river in Huelva province’s Torrearenilla marshland. A convicted paedophile, Santiago del Valle, who had been granted an early release from prison, was arrested after he confessed to the murder. Thus began Juan José Cortés’ crusade … [Read more...] about The victim-turned-activist: a new kind of hero