Beginning Thursday, high school and college students in Chile are preparing a new series of strikes and protests to demand free public education.
The Chilean Students Federation (CONFECH) maintained its call for a national strike in Chile by Chilean university students on Thursday. The president of the Chilean Student Federation (Confech), Camila Vallejo, stated that the call to a national protest, put off last Monday due to a plane crash in Chile, will resume Thursday, enabling the demonstrations to be continued next week.
The walkout of Chilean students initially had been cancelled due to a plane crash in the Juan Fernandez archipelago in Chile that killed 21 people, informed CONFECH leader Camila Vallejo. “We are going to resume our call on Thursday according to the initiatives in each region and achieve a strongest and massive demonstration next week,” continued the student leader. Camila Vallejo recalled that the 21 people who died in the plane accident last Friday were on their way to offering assistance on the Juan Fernandez island, which was affected by a tsunami in February 2010. “They were also fighting for human dignity,” the beautiful and charismatic student leader expressed.
Student Protests in Chile resume after plane crash
The CONFECH will resume its nationawide strike call for Thursday, adjusted to the initiatives of each region, and a stronger, more massive strike will be held next week, Vallejo ensured. Chilean students in each region of the country will decide if they join or not the protest action to demand high-quality and free education.
Social struggle is the best tribute to the victims of the airline tragedy, some of whom supported the students’ cause, said Sebastian Farfan, a student leader at the University of Valparaiso. Meanwhile, wariness prevails in local student organizations about the proposal made by President Sebastian Piñera to set up a three-week bargaining table as of next Monday to find a solution to the ongoing conflict.
Chile Student leader Camilla Vallejo: Protest for public education for everyone
Chilean Students at all educational levels, meanwhile, mistrust a government proposal to set up a three-week committee starting Monday to find a solution to the current conflict. The Chilean student movement demands that the government should assume the cost of public education and put an end to the current profit-aimed education system.
The Chilean education sector practically is in private hands, after so-called reforms made by the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. Only 40 percent of Chileans are studying in free public schools, while there is no free-of-charge higher education. Chilean students are forced to request bank credits in order to access university education.
Mobilizations will continue until the Chilean government meets student demands for free, public, and non-profit education, the CONFECH and high school leaders determindedly suggest.
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