Deputies from the Broad Front (FA), Socialist Party (PS) and Communist Party (PC) announced that they will file a constitutional indictment against Education Minister Raul Figueroa.
The deputy of the Commons party, Camila Rojas, explained that “we promote this accusation because there is an obvious abandonment on the part of the Government and the Minister of Education. We detect a series of situations that constitute an infringement of the right to education and that affect the learning of children.”
According to what was recorded by 24 Hours, the parliamentarian detailed that “the lack of new regulation made many establishments receive in 2020 fewer resources than in a normal year, we even have cases of schools without funding. Chile is one of the few countries that did not invest more in education in the pandemic, when many children and adolescents do not even have adequate access to connectivity.”
“On the other hand, teachers have seen their working hours blurred and there is no regulation for teaching work in the context of a health emergency. The telework law does not apply to teachers. Unbelievably enough, the Mineduc and the minister have played no part in this. There are international treaties ratified by Chile that impose on the State the duty to continuously improve the conditions of the teaching staff, which has clearly not been fulfilled,” he added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Camila Vallejo (PC) said that “some time ago we came with our advisory teams, lawyers and lawyers, collecting background that the educational community has also given us to configure what would be a constitutional accusation.”
“Given the neglect that this ministry has made to the schools of our country. We are one of the few countries in the world that has not invested more resources in education in the context of the pandemic. We are also a country that has decreased resources according to 2020 in the field of education (…) Under this logic of abandonment, the minister has improperly pressured the return in person,” Vallejo said.
In the Socialist Party, they indicated that they are going to study the accusatory libel against Minister Figueroa. In this regard, Deputy Juan Santana said that “we believe that public education and school communities in our country do not deserve a minister like Raul Figueroa, who has been permanently exposing the safety and health of the members of the different schools, high schools and public kindergartens in our country.”
“We understand that this is a collective effort and therefore requires the opinion of the rest of the blocs and the rest of the colleagues. We consider that there are sufficient merits to carry out this action of oversight of the Chamber of Deputies, but we also understand that to carry it forward and take effect we need transversality and breadth in the support of our colleagues, “said Santana.
Santana added that “we need a period of time to socialize the background we have gathered with our legal team. From that point of view, we are hoping that these spaces will be generated not only with parliamentarians, but also with different actors in the world of education.”
Finally, he maintained that “article 19 indicates the obligation of the authorities to protect the physical and mental integrity of persons. We believe that in these permanent calls for the return of face-to-face activities in unsafe conditions, the minister is seriously violating the health but also the general conditions of the school communities of our country.”
From the Party for Democracy (PPD), Deputy Rodrigo Gonzalez announced that the background will be analyzed. “We have decided to study the constitutional accusation together with the other parties and we agree with the Socialist bloc that there is all the precedent for this, especially the lack of support and total abandonment in which the minister has sustained public education,” he said.
