Minister Ávila summons former mayors Alessandri and Tohá on episodes of violence registered in the National Institute

The Minister of Education, Marco Antonio Ávila, referred to the incidents recorded during these days in the surroundings of the National Institute that ended with a minor dressed in “white overalls” arrested and left Transantiago buses wrecked.
In conversation with Radio Universo, the head of Mineduc addressed the problems that affect the emblematic high schools of Santiago, especially in the National Institute and the Barros Arana National Boarding School (INBA), pointing out promises unfulfilled by the previous councilors.
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Ávila condemned these acts, specifying that this form of demonstration will not solve anything, adding that “here we are not talking to students who are mobilized, who have a cause, or who believe in public education, or in education or in democracy.”
In that line, he maintained that he maintains dialogue with those who demonstrate peacefully. “There is a group of important students, I would say the majority, who are often mobilized correctly, and who show what are the absences, what are the debts of the educational system,” he said.
Infrastructure debt
The Secretary of State pointed out that many of the problems experienced by these establishments derive from unfulfilled promises in terms of infrastructure by the former mayors of Santiago, as in the case of Felipe Alessandri and Carolina Tohá.
“It is not a direct accusation,” he said, however, adding that “there are commitments, debts signed by previous mayors saying that they are going to recover the infrastructure of what nothing happened. I mean there’s a good reason behind this. Not the expression of violence, which are two different things.”

Ávila delved into this issue by declaring that there are infrastructure problems in other schools in Chile, but since his students do not generate riots, they are not in the limelight.
“It hurts me a little bit when you talk only about the three or four establishments in Santiago. That is why I tell you to separate the issues. In the high school of Cochamó exactly the same thing happens and the students are not taking school. In the high school that we were yesterday (Talagante) also lacks a roof in its gym to be able to do sports in winter and they are not setting fire to a bus, “he said in this regard.
In this line, he added that there must be a national plan to overcome this debt that “will transcend our government. It’s probably not going to be these three years. We are talking about a lot of money to be able to recover the school infrastructure.”
“The justification of that group of (violent) students is not clear to me that this is neither the infrastructure, nor the lack of resources, nor the absence of teachers. I think that is a specific agenda, which has to do with an activism that I do not find that there is anything of substance,” he added.

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Original source in Spanish