Strikes

Effective Friday of last week, Liceo Mariano Latorre went on strike along with hundreds of other public schools nationwide. The reasons behind it are a little vague to me but it essentially has to do with a "historical debt" owed to the teachers by the government. Back in 1981, administration of the public education system was transferred to the municipalities. In the midst of the change many teachers lost their jobs and paychecks went missing. Flash forward 30 years, and teachers are still demanding the payment of this "historical debt". The government passed a resolution to pay the debt but failed to deliver the funds within the deadline. "And now, the only thing we can do is to strike," my host teacher explained.

It's been one week and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The strike is declared "indefinite" and we've been told that it's quite possible it could last through the rest of the semester - November 20th. This isn't the first time teachers have taken action and demanded missing payments. Last semester public schools closed their doors for 3 weeks until negotiations with the government reached a satisfactory compromise. I am not familiar with the details - something to do with unpaid bonuses - but clearly the compromise, or perhaps another unfulfilled promise, has failed to quell frustrations.

It seems that educators from both sides of the equator can sympathize with the woes of underpayment considering the important service they provide. Nonetheless, it's hard for me to feel passionate about the teachers' position. From my perspective, 30 years is a very long time and it seems strange that this wasn't addressed and resolved decades ago. Most of the teachers I work with daily were students or recent university graduates when this debt accumulated; I'm not sure what they stand to gain from their demands, if anything. I actually feel more sorry for the students. They already have to make up the lost hours of classes from last semester's strike, and now it's possible that they will have to make up another month's worth of school if things aren't resolved quickly. Frustrations are amplified at high schools like mine where 4th year students need to prepare for the PSU (the university admissions test, or the equivalent of the SAT in the States). In Chile, admission into a university is determined almost exclusively on this score. They don't have the luxury of relying on a stellar essay to compensate for a lower score. As long as the strike continues, they are losing valuable opportunities for assistance in preparing for the exam.

As a foreign volunteer, I have a substantial degree of immunity which I intend to take advantage of for students' benefits. We're lucky that our teachers recognize this and don't mind if we want to continue with the English workshop and the radio program. Nonetheless, I still have a lot of spare time on my hands. Considering that so little time is left, a part of me hopes this strike ends soon so I can move forward with the brilliant plans I had for upcoming lessons and also meet my goals I hoped to accomplish with the students by the end of November. On the other hand, unrestricted by partisanship, I can't help but feel tempted by opportunity the strike presents for more ambitious travel excursions...

Below is a link to a Santiago Times article offering more information. If you'd like to read more, just type in "Teacher Strikes" in the site's search bar and a few more recent articles will pop up.

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/santiagotimes/index.php/news/education/chile-public-schoolteachers-cancel-classes-indefinitely.html