During the day, teachers and parents from Aracataca will hold two meetings to inform the student community about the reasons why these protests are taking place in defense of education.
Teachers from the municipality of Aracataca, Magdalena, have taken to the streets in a peaceful demonstration to express their rejection of the recent amendments approved by the Congress of the Republic to the Statutory Law of Education. According to educators, these modifications represent a serious threat to public education in the region.
Omar Vargas, teacher and active member of the Subdirectorate of Educators of Aracataca, declared that the situation is critical for Colombian teachers. “We are in the public squares of Aracataca, Bogotá and various parts of the country, demanding that the Congress of the Republic withdraw the amendments that have significantly altered the Statutory Law of Education,” said Vargas. “These amendments seem aimed at privatizing, outsourcing and commodifying education, turning it into a business rather than a fundamental right.”
The protest has also brought together parents, who were invited to a meeting at the main headquarters of the John F. Kennedy and Indeba Educational Institutions in Buenos Aires from the early hours of Wednesday. The objective, according to the teachers, is to report on the actions and motivations behind the strike that currently involves more than 400 teachers in Aracataca, where approximately 325 are affiliated with the union.
Pablo Marriaga Crespo, president in charge of the Subdirectorate of Educators of Aracataca and leader of the mobilization, harshly criticized the legislative amendments. «In Aracataca we are still in an indefinite strike. “Congress has hindered the government’s efforts and these amendments, especially those that affect the preschool level, are unacceptable,” said Marriaga. “The elimination of complete preschool, leaving only the transition grade, is a hard blow to the initial education that we had made progress in guaranteeing.”
The teachers who carry out this mobilization in the municipality of Aracataca assure that they will remain in the streets until their demands are met and the right to quality public education for all Magdalenians is protected.
