Thousands of teachers will begin to set up their tents and will settle until next Thursday, June 20, in the Plaza de Bolívar as a symbol of protest against the three points of the Statutory Education Law that is being debated in Congress.
Among the points are the evaluation of teachers, the lack of knowledge of preschool (Pre Kindergarten – Kindergarten and Transition) and the school vouchers that would be given to parents.
“Today we set up, within the framework of the ‘Great Taking of Bogotá’, the pedagogical camp where we will be in this space, until the final debates regarding the Statutory Law take place; in which we request that it be archived because it does a lot of damage to public education in the country,” said Jennifer Villarreal, member of the Board of Directors of the Association of District Educators.
“They want to privatize education, eliminate the three grades of preschool and give school vouchers, which is a form of privatization. We hope that these ‘monkeys’ of the education reform will be eliminated and that the project will be left as it was presented by the National Government and that it will be public; If it is approved, we will continue on a national strike,” said teacher Pedro Cardoza.
For his part, the mayor of Bogotá, Carlos Fernando Galán, sent a message to the teachers who demonstrated in the city, urging them to respect the right of citizens to mobilize, calling on teachers not to block the exclusive lanes of the system of public transport, since this affects citizens who need to travel.
According to Galán: «The marches in Bogotá cannot, for any reason, affect the rights of those who decide not to demonstrate. “Blocking the exclusive lanes of the public transportation system affects hundreds of thousands of citizens who need to travel to their home or work.”
“We call on the teachers who are demonstrating today to help us protect the rights of citizens who do not do so,” he said.
In addition, the Secretary of Security, César Restrepo, denounced acts of violence and destruction of Transmilenio stations during the demonstrations, along with a coexistence manager who was injured by a sharp weapon. For her part, the manager of Transmilenio, María Fernanda Ortiz, reported that more than 100,000 users of the system were affected during the marches.
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