The union of workers of the National Learning Service (SENA) regional Cesar joined the protest carried out by the Colombian Federation of Education Workers (Fecode) this Monday against the draft statutory law that would reform education.
While the members of Fecode marched in the streets of Bogotá until they reached the Plaza de Bolívar to demand the collapse of the document, at the main headquarters of the SENA in the capital of Caesarea they demonstrated outside the entity, according to them because the project has been “disrupted by neoliberals” by introducing changes that would harm SENA and the educational system in general.
EL PILÓN spoke with teacher José Fernando Díaz Parodi, from the SENA union, who explained three aspects that motivate the disagreement: “First because it tries to transfer the Sena to the Ministry of Education, second because it tries to threaten the peasant, the bricklayer, the mechanic, who do not have a school education, but who can come to the Sena to get certified, could no longer do so, so it is imposed that whoever comes to the SENA must have first completed high school,” said Díaz.
Currently, the SENA is attached to the Ministry of Labor, if it were to move to the Education portfolio, the Protestants say, its budgetary autonomy and its training framework for work in the different arts and crafts to which they have access would be put at risk. or perfected by thousands of people, even those who have not finished high school.
THEY REJECT OUTSOURCING
The third intention, continued the educator, is that “SENA makes a common fund for the Ministry of Education and that even private entities can come to compete for this budget to also offer private training in a system that is old and would be called tertiary education and that would take away autonomy from SENA and leave it in difficulty to function,” he pointed out.
“Given the nature of the bill that is being processed, we have joined Fecode in some activities,” added the spokesperson.
EL PILÓN also spoke with Eudes Zapata, director of SENA in Cesar. The official specified that classes have not ceased, but the union has carried out informative activities on how the reform would affect the institution if it is approved as proposed.
“We don’t have unemployment as such. What worries the union is outsourcing because they want a third party to provide the training and the State to pay for that training, that would be detrimental to SENA because if an institute is going to be paid to train technologists they will no longer come to the SENA, in addition, is going to make a cut to the budget,” declared Zapata.
PRESENTATIONS
It is necessary to remember that the Government had dialogues with the teachers, but also reached agreements with the opposition that after Fecode’s discontent were broken, causing the opposition to build its presentation and the Government another. The last chance of this legislature is next June 20.
On the other hand, in the municipality of Aguachica, south of Cesar, teachers also took to the streets, joining the national clamor for a reform that truly dignifies public education, as they maintain.
By Andrea Guerra Peña / EL PILÓN. [email protected]
