Currently, Chile is experiencing a social revolution. Every week, university and high school students storm to the streets to march to demand a radical improvement in public education. College students associated with high school students, ask the government to ensure a free and quality education for all citizens, and the effective prohibition of profit in education. Since May this year, students have been mobilized as a measure of pressure on the government for it to yield to their demands, but so far they have not been successful. Today, in late October, some universities are just finishing the first semester, which normally ends in July, and many of them still do not start the second term. Many public schools also remain to this date without resuming regular classes, which probably will cause hundreds of young Chileans to lose the school year 2011.The Chilean public education is in crisis. Despite its massive coverage, in secondary education it reached 95.9% in terms of enrollment in 2009, the government has failed to significantly correct the problems of quality, equity and segregation in education. Four years ago the OECD summary newsletter stated “The quality and equity of primary and secondary education [of Chile] require improvement. Despite impressive progress in terms of enrollment, much remains to be done to reach Chilean students the results of other OECD countries. It is essential to have better qualified teachers and improve their initial training.” Today the situation has not changed. As for higher education, the latest figures published by the OECD report “Education at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators” indicate that the economic cost of higher education is mainly supported by the families of Chilean students, with a figure that is much higher than other OECD countries where the average borders the 30%. In fact, 80% of the financing of higher education lies with the families who enter the system without differentiation on their incomes. The report says “The educational system in Chile is the only one among OECD countries to rely heavily on private sources and has one of the largest private systems,” adding that “2011 will be remembered as the year of student demonstrations.”
This document describes the ongoing student revolution taking place in Chile, analyzing their causes and outcomes from the perspective of the author. [Complete Document]
