|
Mélida
Cedeño Castro, president of
the public school teachers'
union known as APSE, said her
members will resume their
strike from July 23 to 29.
/ APSE courtesy photo.
|
Public
school students and unions march
in protest against proposed laws
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Students of some public high
schools supported by members of
public employee unions marched
Monday in San José to protest
several bills that are under
consideration by deputies at the
Legislative Assembly.
Mélida Cedeño Castro, president of
the public school teachers' union
known as APSE, said her members
will resume their strike from July
23 to 29.
The union's main request is the
cancellation of the following
bills:
- #20.786, dual education, that
will allow students of technical
schools to complete an internship
in private companies. Students are
said to consider the conditions of
internships unfair because they
would not receive salary,
insurance and others work
benefits.
- #21.097, which seeks to
establish a list of essential
public services, including public
education, in which employees'
right to strike may be limited or
restricted.
The protesters also want to cancel
the final exams, known as FARO
test. These are tests that senior
students at the fifth and fourth
level must take. The Public
Education Ministry set up these
tests to assess the level of
student learning.
Also students are against of
unisex bathrooms for transgender
students to prevent them from
being attacked by others.
According to the Ministry these
new restroom does not mean that
bathroom for men or women will be
eliminated, said the ministry in
its statement.
The students also are critical of
the purchase of drones with money
from the ministry budget that
could be used to repair schools
with structural problems. The
ministry currently has a process
to invest about $599,529 to buy 22
drones and other technological
tools to use in agricultural
areas.
According to a report of the
ministry only 86 of the 1,003 high
schools in the country were closed
by the strike.
Of those 86 closed schools, 41
managed to reopen during the day
and give lessons to the students
who were not supporting the
strike.
The minister, Giselle Cruz Maduro,
said that today meetings will
begin between the ministry
authorities with students to
clarified doubts on the main
issues.
In addition, the ministry enabled
the telephone line 400-1661 to
answer questions from students and
parents about the issues that
bother students.
Protesters met with the new
minister of Education but vowed to
continue their opposition.
Cruz was named the new minister a
week ago after the controversial
resignation of the former
minister, Edgar Mora Mora resigned
July 1. His departure was one of
the demands made by unions and
students as a condition of
finishing their strikes.
After the resignation of Mora,
members of the union of employees
of the Ministry of Education
celebrated in the streets in front
of the ministry building.
According to union leaders, the
former minister did not develop
enough actions to solve the
infrastructure problems in schools
as well as open negotiations with
the employees of the ministry.
For more than a week at the end of
June, some students from the
public high schools were
protesting and requested the
resignation of Mora, who according
to the students, affected their
performance.
-------------------------------
What should the new minister do to
reconcile with the unions and
students and prevent them from
returning to strike? We would
like to know your thoughts on this
story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
|
|
|
