WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE ITALY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Italy, FDCA - THE ANTIDOTE* No. 2 "All the world's a country" - In Belgium, as in Italy, money is being made from education (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (Belgium's French-speaking government) definitively approved the highly contested "program decree" on the night between Wednesday, June 3 and Thursday, June 4, 2026, after a marathon session lasting over 14 hours. The text introduces a severe plan of budget cuts and structural reforms that will profoundly impact schools and universities. --- Changes to the timetable and overall workload required of teachers. --- The increase in working hours envisaged by the program decree stipulates that secondary school teachers will have to complete two additional hours of lessons per week, increasing the amount of face-to-face teaching time from 20 to 22 hours per week. This increase, which corresponds to a 10% increase in classroom hours, will take effect starting in the 2026-2027 school year. According to union estimates, the increase in per capita hours will result in the loss of approximately 1,300 jobs overall for precarious or untenured teachers (non-nommés).

Cuts to higher education: A linear cut of EUR6.5 million will be allocated to the university sector and tuition fees (minerval).

This is a targeted and linear reduction in the higher education sector of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (universities, Hautes Écoles, and Ecoles Superiors d'Art). Although the nominal figure may seem small, the social impact is massive because the cuts are primarily concentrated on the poorest and most vulnerable student groups.
The EUR6.5 million in savings for the state coffers comes primarily from the reduction in funding and allocations that the Federation allocates directly to universities to support the enrollment of low-income or poverty-stricken students. This means fewer exemptions, internal scholarships, and social benefits administered by universities.

Workers are not standing idly by.

Education unions in Belgium have extended their strike notice period until July 10, 2026, effectively covering the entire final term of the school year. The protest movement, coordinated by the common union front (including CSC-Enseignement), does not envision a single, isolated date, but rather a strategy of widespread action and ongoing mobilizations.

Sources:
Facebook - Enseignons.be;
Newspapers - Le soir, le Vif;
TV Media - RTBF (Radio Télévision Belge), RTL Belgium;
The official website of the CSC (Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens), the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions, the largest union in Belgium - lacsc.be

*The Antidote: Short, unscheduled news against mass propaganda by Alternativa libertaria/FdCA

https://alternativalibertaria.org/lantidoto-n-2/
_________________________________________



Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca