Milei at the presentation of the Literacy Plan: he defended Pettovello and criticized Alberto Fernández

This Thursday, President Javier Milei was present for the first time in the province of San Juan to present the National Literacy Plan together with Governor Marcelo Orrego, although during his speech he sent a message of support to the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello, and to question the previous administration. Regarding the Literacy Plan, which contemplates the evaluation at an earlier age to identify alerts in reading and writing and the application of the Learning tests from the third grade and not the sixth grade, he explained that his administration will not be “complicit” in illiteracy and asked “to join forces between the national government, provincial governments and society” because “Argentine children must learn to read and write throughout our country.” We are going to train all the teachers in the country; we are going to give resources to the provinces so that they can form it; We are going to evaluate teachers throughout the country from the national government, we are going to propose incentives for the best teachers to go and teach in schools with the worst literacy indicators,” he said, adding: “Being complacent is what brought us here. The demand is good, it is not bad; The evaluation is good, it is not bad. Let it be clear: evaluating is not stigmatizing, as some say. Evaluating is the best tool we have.” When talking about the current situation of education in Argentina, he made it clear that “we have gone back decades in education. Obviously, economic development and educational development go hand in hand, in the same way that economic decline necessarily drags educational decline”, and that “because a child who does not eat is a child who cannot study, and a child who does not study is a child who cannot progress. It is not surprising that it comes from the left, those ideas that impoverished us as a country.” Then, he continued with a forceful criticism of the management of former President Alberto Fernández during the pandemic: “It is also not surprising that those who promote these ideas are also those who, from the national government, imposed the closure of schools in 2020 and irresponsibly interrupted the educational development of millions of children.” Finally, he celebrated the actions of the head of the Human Capital portfolio: “I want to congratulate our dear Minister Sandra Pettovello, for leading this battle, like so many others. I am sure that if we work together we will be able to make this dream a reality,” and finished with his characteristic cry: “Long live freedom, damn it.” Also present were the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni; the Secretary General of the Presidency, Karina Milei; the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello, and the head of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem.

Original source in Spanish