Chile: Students march for more access to education, an end to privatization
[Translations of articles from La Jornada of Mexico City and El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, for May 12. See originals here and here.]
La Jornada
- El Mostrador photo
Thousands of youths reject privatization of education
By Enrique Gutiérrez
Santiago, May 12 – Some 25,000 Chilean students took to the streets of Santiago on Thursday and thousands more marched in other parts of the country to demand a strengthening of public higher education and rejection of privatization of education, and gave the rightist government of Sebastián Piñera until May 21 to repond to their demands.
After a peaceful beginning, the response of the police was to begin suddently to repress them with water cannons and tear gas, using the repressive measures of the ministry of the interior, which sparked encounters with the students that lasted for hours.
Dozens of students were beaten and at least 20 were arrested. There were as well charges by mounted police in cities like Concepción and demonstrators were repressed in Valdivia, La Serena, Coquimbo and Valparaíso.
The national march was called by the Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile [Federation of Students of Chile] to demand better access to higher education and as a prelude to activities in Valparaíso planned for May 21, when Piñera, whose administration is disapproved of by half of Chileans, will deliver to the nation his second report on his administration.
The president of the Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad Católica [Federation of Students of the Catholic University], Giorgio Jackson, declared that higher education in Chile is in crisis, with degrees with no prospects for employment, giving state resources to institutions that are simply businesses and leaving students in debt for ten or fifteen years.
Other leaders charge that “there are personal economic interests here,” in reference to Minister of Education Joaquín Lavín, who is said to be owner of a center for higher education, the Universidad del Desarrollo [University of Development].
The protests were supported by the Consejo de Rectores, their president Juan Manuel Zolezzi saying, “There has to be a greater injection of resources into state universities”…
The demonstrations also had the support of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores [United Workers’ Center], the Colegio de Profesores [College of Professors] and the leadership of the Communist Party.
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- Camila Vallejo — El Mostrador photo
El Mostrador
Massive student demonstration in anticipation of May 21
More than 15,000 students, most of them at the university level, on Thursday joined a march called by the Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile (CONFECH) to demand an end to inequality in access to higher education.
The massive demonstration was held a little more than a week before President Sebastián Piñera delivers his second report to the nation before the full congress on May 21.
FECH president Camila Vallejo, told Channel 13, “We have laid our cards on the table. We are appealing to the president of the republic to make a statement on May 21, since the ministry of education has not demonstrated competence in responding to the structural problems in education.”
This follows a call for dialogue from the head of the Ministry of Education, Joaquín Lavín. This approach, the leader stated, should be approved by CONFECH, although she warned that there is little confidence among students in the results of this kind of exchange. “We know that the doors to dialogue are open, but we know that when the doors are opened, decisions end up afterards being made behind closed doors, and they go against what we are demanding,” she argued.
Successful march
Camila Vallejo had previously stressed the high turnout at the event.
“This is a large march; there are at least 15,000 people and the diversity shows that there is general discontent about how the current model in our country affects the educational system,” the student leader said…
Camila Vallejo said, “We need cultural changes aimed at a real strengthening of the national public system at all levels. But there is no political will in the government to strengthen it, and their priority is to give resources to private insititutions which don’t need money, since they have resources; why are we giving away money that belongs to all Chileans when it doesn’t even guarantee quality,” she argued…
Tags: Camila Vallejo, Chile, Confederacion de Estudiantes de Chile, Giorgio Jackson, privatization, Sebastian Pinera, students