Chilean Students protest for the seventh day in Santiago

2006 student protests in Chile (also known as the Penguins' Revolution or The March of the Penguins, because of the students' uniform) were a series of ongoing student voice protests carried out by high school students across Chile from late April to early June 2006. The protests peaked on May 30 when 790,000 students adhered to strikes and marches throughout the country, becoming Chile's largest student demonstration of the past three decades and the first political crisis of president Michelle Bachelet's administration.

Amongst the students' short term demands were free bus fare and the waiving of the university admissions test (PSU) fee, while the longer term demands included: the abolition of the Organic Constitutional Law on Teaching (LOCE), the end to municipalization of subsidized education, a reform to the Full-time School Day policy (JEC) and a quality education for all. Universidad de Playa Ancha (UPLA) Student Federation President Sebastián Delpiano told The Santiago Times the protesting students will meet at 9 a.m. in Valparaíso’s Plaza Victoria and march toward the nearby Parque Italia. He said students expect to be joined by groups of workers, such as fishermen and subcontracted mining workers.

Student leaders said the demonstrations primarily will protest the General Education Law (LGE), a proposed education reform package intended to replace Chile’s existing Organic Constitutional Education Law (LOCE) (ST, May 16 ). LGE opponents claim the law does not combat inequality and profit-focused practices within Chile’s education system (ST, May 15 ). Wednesday’s student protest will not be the first to occur in Region V in recently. Local students began protesting in April, claiming the government had not responded adequately to student demands regarding allegedly unfair student bus fare regulations. On May 13, transportation and education officials met with Region V student leaders and proposed the creation of a dialog group to examine and resolve the bus fare problem (ST, May 15).


The proposal did not put an end to student demonstrations in Region V. Students at Valparaíso’s Universidad Tecnológica Federico Santa María (UTFSM) voted on Monday to continue striking until Thursday, when Region V student leaders are scheduled to meet again with transportation and education officials and present a “counterproposal.” UTFSM General Student Assembly spokesperson Diego Pizarro said the counterproposal aims to provide students with guarantees that government representatives in the dialog group will seriously consider their demands, which include reforming the controversial bus fare regulations. Meanwhile, a group of approximately 16 UTFSM students marched from Valparaíso to Santiago’s La Moneda presidential palace, where they presented a petition on Tuesday.

March participants told The Santiago Times that their petition demands, among other things, the rejection of the LGE. The marchers are also calling for greater student participation in university decision-making processes. Also continuing to protest are UPLA students. Delpiano said they will not end their takeover of university facilities unless the LGE is removed from consideration in Congress. He said the students hope Bachelet will address the issue in her Wednesday speech. Students at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, on the other hand, voted on Monday to end their strike and to vacate the university buildings they had been occupying since May 9.

PUCV Student Federation (FEPUCV) Vice President David Mora said students agreed to return to classes because officials had responded satisfactorily to some of their demands, including a request that the university not take legal action against students who had participated in the building takeover. Mora cited the fatigue of student demonstrators as another factor that motivated students to return to normality.

Despite the decision to end the strike, Mora said PUCV students will remain “alert” to developments regarding the LGE. He said PUCV students also will participate in Wednesday’s protest. The protest will occur in the context of recent widespread demonstrations by Chilean university and high school students. Students demanding changes to bus fares, school hours and education finance have taken to the streets in numerous Chilean cities over the past several weeks.

Last Thursday, Chilean student federations called a nationwide strike to protest the LGE. On Monday, students at one of Chile’s most emblematic public high schools, the Instituto Nacional, briefly occupied school facilities to protest the proposed law (ST, May 12, May 16, May 20 ). PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS TAKE OVER BUILDINGS PDF Print E-mail Tuesday, 20 May 2008 Students at one of Chile’s most emblematic high schools, El Instituto Nacional, peacefully ended their Monday morning school occupation after police threatened to intervene and make arrests and because a majority of the students at the school voted to withdraw. The student protest was a continuation of last Thursday’s protest against the General Education Law (LGE).

Their aim was to draw more attention to the educational reform issues and to prevent the LGE from passing in Congress. Instituto Nacional student body president Maximiliano Núñez told press that “further occupation is possible.” Núñez said high schools across Chile’s capital are coordinated in their protest against the LGE and that many students would like to “recreate the powerful student movements of 2006.” In addition to the Instituto Nacional, students at the Liceo de Aplicación, another well renowned high school in Santiago’s metropolitan area, look over their schools on Monday.

At press time, those buildings remained occupied. University students support the occupations as well and many faculties have ceased classes until Thursday. Socialist (PS) Dep. Manuel Monsalve expressed his support of student protests, saying that the LGE does not fully deal with the demands made in the 2006 student protests. “Those demands were meant to guarantee a quality education without segregating students and to end the profit motive in education,” said Monsalve. “Although this reform represents progress, it is not enough.” Students are waiting for President Bachelet's State of the Union Address, to be given Wednesday in Valparaíso, where she is expected to address the progress of the LGE. Núñez said that high school students might organize a trip to Valparaíso to establish their demands directly in front of the president.