Chilean teachers' union begins walk to demand priority to education

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Chilean teachers' union begins walk to the National Congress to demand that the authorities give priority to education, demanding the approval of the Coexistence Law project and the historical debt of the teachers. teleSUR

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00:00In Chile, $17,000 a month for half a working day was the salary that the former Minister

00:06of Education of Sebastián Piñera had assigned to a private university, uncovering the scandal

00:11about business in education.

00:13From Santiago, Chile, our colleague Paola Dragni with the details.

00:18They are two sides of the same coin.

00:21The Chilean Teachers Association will walk for three days in a procession to Congress

00:25that seeks to draw the government's attention to different issues such as the teachers'

00:30historical debt and the school coexistence bill, among many others.

00:36We have the issue of public education that is falling apart.

00:39It is no exaggeration to say it.

00:42There are places where it is literally falling apart.

00:44Roofs are collapsing, schools are flooded, there are unsanitary bathrooms, there are

00:49plagues of mice.

00:51This is true at the municipal level as well as in the local services.

00:55Public education that have not solved many of the problems.

01:02A government ironically headed by former student leaders who seem to have forgotten their old

01:07demands.

01:08Everything remains the same in school and university education.

01:13The private world does not let go of the business and the scandal with the former Education

01:18Minister of Sebastián Piñera, Marcela Cubillos, is the tip of the iceberg.

01:23Mrs. Cubillos is not untouchable.

01:28That is why we have asked the Comptroller's Office for a pronouncement regarding the actions

01:32she carried out when she was Minister of Education, because her argument of trying to protect

01:37herself behind her freedom is not an argument that shields her from having to answer to

01:41state institutions and in this case to the Comptroller's Office for State Resources.

01:51Marcela Cubillos, when she was Minister of Education, reportedly transferred close to

01:57one and a half million dollars to San Sebastián University, where she later worked as a professor

02:03with a salary of $17,000 a month for half a day.

02:07And she is proud of it.

02:10This is a private university that has autonomy.

02:13The students that enter the San Sebastián University choose a private project, a project

02:18without free education.

02:19What does the left want?

02:21Again, that all universities should be state universities and that the left should be the

02:25ones to define what is taught, who teaches, how it is taught.

02:29This does not exist in Chile because we said no two years ago in the rejection.

02:35She was a key face during the campaign for the change of constitution, sharpening the

02:40message against public education but without opposing state contributions.

02:45Now, it is clearer why.

02:49We are concerned about this $1,500 million that were transferred to the San Sebastián

02:55University, which looks more like the University of San Sebastián Piñera, because it has

03:00become the paymaster of countless officials and collaborators of this government.

03:08Practically all the right-wing politicians who were with the late former president are

03:12now in this university company.

03:17There is a legal issue that is clearly being seen in the judicial system and the superintendents

03:21of education, which is also important to us.

03:25And the university has had no response to us, the students, due to the same case of

03:29Marcela Cubillos.

03:31This case was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

03:37The students of this university are outraged.

03:41They denounce academic and infrastructural shortcomings.

03:44But in the free market, marketing seems to be the most important thing.

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