Foreign official in Thailand demands education for his children

“Our professional situation is complicated,” says Onsés, in a telephone interview with ABC from Thailand, where he is based. He says he is “very angry with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, because it is doing nothing to reverse the situation and help the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in particular of the Treasury”, a department which he accuses of having organized for years budgets “which affect us a lot, in particular large families like mine”. The document, presented before the Central Contentious-Administrative Court No. 12 of Madrid, asserts that the regulations in force – a ministerial decree of 2001 which establishes a limit of 3,906 euros per child per year and limits compensation to 60% – has become obsolete, to the point of no longer fulfilling the function for which it was created: guaranteeing the children of Spanish civil servants an education equivalent to the Spanish one in countries where public provision is non-existent, inadequate or directly unaffordable for their parents’ pockets.

Onsés, who has three children and before working in Thailand was in Mauritaniadescribed in the trial educational scenarios that have little to do with Spanish reality: a public system in Arabic and with an Islamic confessional character in Nouakchott, or a model entirely in Thai and with a strong religious imprint in Bangkok. “A civil servant who leaves alone is not the same thing as a person with three children,” he summarizes. In both countries, the only comparable alternative has been the international centers of the French AEFE network, more affordable than the average international school, but still well above the amounts covered by Spanish regulations. “A school costs 3,900 euros per month. “It’s impossible,” he said. The result, he claims, is continued economic harm that has forced him to pay most of the costs of education out of his own pocket.

The Onsés trial, however, goes beyond the personal case. He accuses the State of having incurred harmful regulatory inactivity by not updating, for more than two decades, regulations which affect a fundamental right – the right to education – and which, moreover, cause a Discrimination between children of civil servants posted in Spain and those who accompany their parents abroad. “Basically, the state sends you abroad and says, ‘Wait,'” he says. The letter points out that although other supplements and diets have been reviewed, educational assistance has remained frozen since 2001 despite cumulative inflation of around 75% and an exponential increase in the cost of international education.

The official demands a compensation of 38,095.84 euroswhich corresponds to the difference between what was actually spent during the 2020 to 2025 academic years and what the Administration paid by applying the regulatory ceiling. Furthermore, he asks the Court to declare the 60% limit inapplicable in his case due to the lack of “sufficient legal coverage” and violate constitutional principles such as equality, good administration and protection of the family. “What we ask is exactly the same thing as what we demand of others,” he emphasizes, recalling that Spain requires any foreigner who wishes to legally reside here to provide proof of a minimum income per child, while the Spanish administration does not guarantee this same standard when it sends its own civil servants abroad.

It also requests that the Treasury provide reports and studies this would supposedly justify the lack of updating of the standard – documentation which, according to the lawsuit, does not exist – which would strengthen the thesis of a arbitrary policy supported by administrative inertia. “If the Treasury refuses to sit down to negotiate, everything will be delayed and there are people who are suffering a lot,” he laments.

At the same time, the complaint he presented to the Ombudsman was initially accepted for processing, which is unusual and which Onsés interpreted as a sign that there could be signs of mismanagement. However, when he filed the dispute, “they disengaged”he assures. The Secretary of State for the Civil Service also declared himself “incompetent”, which he considers to be “totally false”.

A relevant precedent

Onsés insists on the fact that It’s not about choosing exclusive schools.but to guarantee a minimum of educational continuity for minors, who “are forced to lead this life without having chosen it”. “My children did not go to the cinema until they arrived in Thailand because before there were no cinemas where we lived,” he says to illustrate the degree of precariousness in certain destinations. “The children are suffering. Europe is taking care of it; not us.” The case, currently awaiting judicial resolution, could set a relevant precedent for more than 1,500 civil servants from the Spanish foreign service who live with their families across the world.

Onsés’ testimony highlights a structural problem that, according to him, even limits the professional careers of Foreign Service personnel: “In Geneva, there are diplomats who do not take their children because they cannot bear these costs. This limits professional careers,” he explains. Those with families cannot go to destinations like Washington or Singaporefor example, where daycare costs around $3,900. Added to all this problem is the situation of the spouses of Foreign Service civil servants: most, because they accompany them, cannot maintain their own professional career over time, which only means a salary in the family and that the partners of these civil servants do not contribute to Social Security because the system does not regulate this situation either.

The feeling of institutional abandonment permeates the entire conversation: “This is how it happens, and we get tired. Either I fight, or I will have to contact private companies or the European Foreign Service“, he said. This is not an isolated case, the problem of the costs of raising children affects many foreign service civil servants and many of them end up choosing to leave the Spanish administration in the absence of minimum conditions. ABC contacted some of them – mostly members of the diplomatic service – and while there are some particularly sensitive cases, such as an ambassador with a disabled daughter who needs special education and receives no support, all declined to be included in this report for fear of the reprisals they might face within a foreign ministry where, at the moment, Any movement is interpreted by Minister José Manuel Albares as a personal offense.

The roots ticket

Before Onsés, two other diplomats went to court to denounce this situation, but they were left aside, among other things because of the economic cost of continuing the legal battle until the end. Onsés, however, does not intend to stop at this first school compensation trial and is preparing two more: the one for the roots ticket and another for the family responsibilitieswhich respond to the real economic impact of having children in each destination and whose compensation is not updated.

He roots ticket It was suspended in general budgets for twelve years, forcing many families to pay out of their own pockets for their annual trips to Spain, a right enjoyed by civil servants in other European countries. Onsés’ three children hardly know Spain because “This represents grazing” which cannot be authorized.