Education protest

Today, our country is revolutionizing with social movements because of a great discontent of population with the actual government management. The education is now the principal focus of popular dissatisfied and we can see in the news everyday how all population tries manifest with protest. Students have called for a national student strike to demand an end to privatization and profiteering in education, more scholarships, and increased public support for secondary schools and universities.

The current marches recall the deepest political crisis faced by the last government, under President Michelle Bachelet. Exactly five years ago, students went on strike in a series of actions known as the "penguin rebellion" and held marches with many participants to protest lack of investment in education, with most of the complaints centering on high-school education.

The students have both economic and academic demands. Students want increased public funding of universities, a year-round bus pass, full scholarships for lower- and middle-class students, and an increased role for the state in technical education, which is now handled by private institutes. Academically, they want to end the use of a standardized test as the sole method of admission to the best universities. They also want technical institutes to offer liberal arts classes and are demanding guaranteed academic freedom. In addition, they are demanding more accessibility for people with disabilities.

While most demonstrators are peaceful, several student protests have devolved into violence in recent weeks. The last march ended with police on horseback and in armored vehicles chasing demonstrators around central Santiago.

I participated in the last 2 marches and here I can feel the widespread discontent, nevertheless, all the students and people that go to these mobilizations expresses happily, with many performances and shows. My postgraduate program support the strike and participated together south campus in these mobilizations making paintings with our reflection about the problem. I think that students demands are important and that government must solve the education problem.