Below the amendment to the Draft Statutory Education Law

FECODE is an organization committed to the defense of public education as a fundamental right and common good, with a historic fight to guarantee that public money is invested in the public, that education corresponds to the needs and contexts of our communities. All of this is in deep contradiction with the traditional sectors and parties that have governed this country and that seek to deny the right to education, with a clear interest in its privatization.

The project reconciled by the different benches in the First Permanent Constitutional Commission of the Senate of the Republic, on June 5 of this year, does not correspond to the agreements signed between the National Government and FECODE. The amendment presented was not consulted with the Federation, On the contrary, several proposals that we opportunely raised in the development of the debates were ignored, with the purpose of being discussed and incorporated, as stated in the parliamentary procedure; surprisingly regressive proposals were included that completely distort the recognition of the fundamental right to education, such as the following:

1. It incorporates a mixed approach to education, opening it to the logic of the market, clearly enabling its privatization and commercialization under the pretext of improving quality and the fallacy of participation, which reflects the interest in imposing symbiosis between the resource public and the private sector.
2. It hits the goals and objectives of education, reaffirms the competency-based approach, denying the possibility of opening the discussion of a necessary curricular reform, weakening the character and social function that education has.
3. It restricts access to higher education for the broad populations with the most difficulties, by imposing meritocracy as a criterion.
4. Without sufficient support or debate with the educational and academic community, it creates the tertiary educational level.
5. It includes the mandate of multilateral organizations to subordinate teacher evaluation to results that do not depend exclusively on pedagogical practice, but on multiple factors associated with the education that the State is responsible for guaranteeing, generalizing it and deepening its perverse and punitive interest, ignoring its nature. pedagogical, transformative and constructive.
6. It denies the mandatory nature of transition, kindergarten and pre-kindergarten grades in public educational institutions under State administration, with qualified teaching staff linked by competition, as should correspond to all areas, levels and educational modalities.

For these reasons and given the short time frame, we ask the National Government to make the determination of disallow approval of this project and proceed to generate a broad mobilization around a new participatory social dialogue, which consolidates and guarantees education as a fundamental right and common good.

We manifest our total rejection of cabals behind closed doors, practices that make territorial realities invisible, curtail acquired rights and democratic freedoms, feed the appetites of sectors and businessmen who see education as a business opportunity, commercialization and outsourcing. We oppose any privatization initiative sought by the right and extreme right of this country.

We call on the Senate of the Republic and the House of Representatives, the social, popular, cultural, environmental, academic, indigenous movement, peasants, students, universities and others, to close ranks to defend Colombian Public Education as a common good and right fundamental, which must be free, universal, attended to, guaranteed and administered directly by the State.

Finally, we declare the Colombian teachers in a state of maximum alert, we convene the National Board of FECODE virtually on Monday, June 10 NATIONAL STOP for Wednesday, June 12 for the collapse of this amendment, which blurs the spirit of education as a fundamental right and common good.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

DOMINGO AYALA ESPITIA – President

LUIS EDGARDO SALAZAR B. – Secretary General