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Within the framework of the meeting of Ministers of Education of Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile, convened by the World Bank, the Development Bank of Latin America, ECLAC, UNICEF, UNESCO and the Government of Chile, The need arises to analyze the implications that this entails for education in Chile.
From the organizations of education workers in Chile, alerts are raised about the serious consequences that the World Bank could have if it organized a regional meeting of Ministers of Education in the country. Concern centers on the possible continued influence of this international organization on educational policies, as well as the drive for the privatization of education throughout the region.
The Ideological Background of Chilean Education
It is essential to understand that the current conditions and crises in Chilean education are the result of a national and international neoliberal agenda. From the Dictatorship to the governments of the Concertación, Nueva Mayoría, Alianza por Chile, Chile Vamos and Frente Amplio, educational policies have been aligned with the guidelines of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The ’80 Constitution establishes principles that promote segregation, selection and social discrimination in education. The supposed freedom of choice hides the essence of the neoliberal economic model, allowing privatization through the voucher system and subsidy for medium assistance, financed with public resources.
The LGE and the Role of the World Bank
The General Education Law (LGE), presented in the previous decade, was the necessary pivot for the World Bank to implement measures aimed at deepening the model. Objectives agreed in 2000, such as universal primary education and the improvement of the quality and equity of education, established parameters that conditioned the actions of the signatory countries.
Since 2015, the UN established global objectives for economic development by 2030, where education is key to achieving Sustainable Development Goal No. 4. Education is conceived as a means to “overcome poverty” through the formation of productive subjects, thus subordinating national educational policy to an international agenda.
Interference of the World Bank in Chile and Resistance
Any intervention by the World Bank, the IDB or the IMF in the educational policies that Chile must adopt in the coming months is denounced. In particular, any influence on the New Public Education Financing System or the Reform of Law 21,040 is rejected. These reforms, according to warnings, will affect more than 16,000 officials and thousands of teachers and education assistants.
The complicit attitude of the Government of Chile towards the interests of large transnational capitals is rejected. Chile will not be allowed to become a platform to export the educational crisis, the privatization and disappearance of public education, and the precariousness of teaching work.
For a True and Sovereign Public Education
It is crucial to resist the tutelage of the World Bank and fight for true and sovereign public education. Dignity should not be an exception, but rather a custom in the construction of an education that prioritizes student learning and abandons the philosophy of financial balance as its only reason for existing.
Education organizations
- Association of Education Workers of the Gabriela Mistral Local Service – ASOTTE.
- National Union of Education Workers – SNTE Chile.
- National Coordinator of DAEM Officials – CONAFUDAEM.
- Association of Education Workers of the Valparaíso Local Service – SUTE Valpo.
- Forum for the Right to Public Education – FODEP