The bill presented by a group of right-wing deputies – among them, Marta Bravo and Cristóbal Martínez – that modifies the General Education Law and seeks to establish the obligation to sing the national anthem and raise the national flag in primary education institutions and secondary; It was sent to the room by the Education Commission.
In this last instance, a proposal was approved that specifies this obligation, which must be carried out at least once a month, on a Monday within the school calendar. These activities must be carried out in an event in which students participate and attend with due respect for the national symbols that represent the fundamental values of Chile.
According to the deputy for Ñuble, Cristóbal Martínez, “it is essential that we can instill in all children and young people in the country respect for our national symbols, especially when in recent times there has been a quite radical sector in our society that has attempted to erase with the elbow decades of history, even seeking to change our national anthem,” he said.
In this case, he added, “both the anthem and our flag are two of the symbols that most unite us Chileans, even receiving protection at the Constitutional level. Therefore, we are absolutely convinced that this project will be well received by the educational communities, thus returning to the time when no one questioned whether or not it was appropriate to sing the anthem at the beginning of each week.”
Representative Marta Bravo believes it is important “that we can rescue ancient traditions in our country, whose sole purpose is to promote, respect and highlight the importance of the national symbols that make us so proud as Chileans.”
For the legislator, “schools, by definition, play a fundamental role in the learning process of children and young people in our country, so it seems absolutely pertinent to me that an appreciation for the identity of our country be encouraged, in this case, for the national anthem and our flag. So we hope to have the support of the rest of the parliamentarians, because we are talking about a simple project that will in no way affect the work of the students. On the contrary, it will contribute to its future development.”
“Opportunistic project”
From the College of Teachers, its regional president, Manuel Chávez, stated that “in all educational establishments, the national anthem is sung as a protocol, in commemorative events, and the flag is raised. Therefore it is something that is done. I think this is more of a political opportunism in the context of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the military coup. They want to make it seem that the victims who are commemorating and demanding justice, truth and reparation today were the unpatriotic ones.”
For Chávez, “it is an opportunistic project, which has nothing to do with reality, because I repeat, in educational establishments – and it is something to visit these days when national holidays are celebrated -, folk dances, the flagging, the decorations that today are in every classroom, in every educational establishment say something else. If we wanted to delve deeper into this patriotic feeling of national identity and democratic participation in our society, then Parliament should rather promote citizen education, history and civic education.”
