A part of the board of directors of the Atacama Teachers’ College began a hunger strike demanding answers to their requests, mainly regarding the poor infrastructure conditions in educational establishments in the region.
The national president of the union, Mario Aguilar, accompanied by the regional leader of the school, Carlos Rodríguez, made the announcement in front of the media. This occurs amid the Government’s efforts to ensure a normal start to school in the Atacama Region. Let us remember that last year, in the Local Public Education Service (SLEP), the region was paralyzed for more than 70 days, affecting more than 30 thousand students.
“At this moment we moved to our offices and started a hunger strike,” declared Rodríguez, underlining the union’s determination in this regard. Furthermore, he added that “we will be at the headquarters, in our house, until it is necessary.”
The regional secretary, Yariela Ardiles, and the president of the Tierra Amarilla community, Rogelio Pizarro, will also join this pressure measure, as announced by Rodríguez.
The decision to initiate this action was made after a meeting at the premises of the area’s College of Teachers, in which the Minister of Education (Mineduc), Nicolás Cataldo, and the senators of the Education commission participated. During the meeting, the progress status of the work committed during 2023 to mitigate the paralysis of educational communities was reported.
According to what was reported, a delay in said work was evident. “What we need is for the authorities to respond in an orderly manner to each educational community. Until yesterday, the media knew that there were three schools that were not returning, today it was reported that there are 11,” said Rodríguez, quoted by Cooperative. These statements were recognized by the Mineduc authorities, who admitted the delay in the committed work.
