Students protest against education cuts in Spain

Students have held a demonstration in the Spanish capital of Madrid to protest against austerity cuts, rising fees and other changes to the education system of the European country.

The students gathered in front of the Education Ministry in the city to show their anger at the government’s public spending cuts, which they say are hurting the education system.

“Public education is being privatized. It’s not visible, but it is happening. This is going to lead to a situation where only rich people will be able to study; and the working class, like me, won’t,” said a university student.

The cash-strapped government of Spain has cut public spending across the board. Education Minister Jose Ignacio Wert said earlier this year that his ministry had seen cuts of up to 7 percent over the past two years.

Spain suffers from the second highest level of unemployment in Europe after Greece, which had an unemployment rate above 27 percent in May.

Battered by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, destroying millions of jobs.

Madrid has forecasted that the economy will contract again by between 1.0 percent and 1.5 percent during 2013.