«Potentially severe and grave consequences for the education of our children», warned Mario Aguilar, president of the Teachers’ Union, to Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz, who did not rule out teacher layoffs due to a nearly 3.6% reduction in the National Budget’s maximum working hours. According to the union leader, this signals an extremely serious situation that jeopardizes education quality.
In an interview with Radio Infinita on Friday, Quiroz explained that the allocation for Local Public Education Services (SLEP) and declining birth rates implies no significant revenue increases for the school system, which, in his view, necessitates achieving «greater efficiencies.»
«This will naturally lead to optimization and may require staff reductions, but these reductions are not linked to denying social benefits; the right to education is the benefit. Let’s not confuse the right to educate with the obligation to employ; these are different matters,» the State Secretary stated.
The teachers’ response was swift, with Aguilar rejecting the minister’s comments made during José Antonio Kast’s administration.
«I find the Finance Minister’s statements extremely serious, particularly his prior announcements about potential teacher layoffs,» he said, noting that the assertion is unfounded since municipalities and SLEP require annual plans.
«This is inappropriate because each public education service, whether municipal or SLEP, needs an annual plan, like the PADEM (Annual Municipal Education Development Plan) for municipalities and the PAL (Local Annual Plan) for local services,» he explained.
The Teachers’ Union president emphasized that these tools must be based on pedagogical definitions rather than financial constraints.
«They should rely on technical-pedagogical criteria, not economic criteria,» stressed the union leader, as reported by CNN Chile.
Aguilar warned that adopting an exclusively economic criterion «could lead to extremely grave and severe impacts on the education that our children receive». He insisted that decisions regarding teacher staffing must consider learning needs and not just fiscal efficiency, as this would adversely affect students and school communities.
Finally, the Teachers’ Union announced that they will not limit their response to mere statements. Aguilar indicated that they will engage in various actions: legal, administrative, and at the Comptroller’s Office, for example. But also mobilizations, because this situation is alarming, as it seems the minister is forcing services to lay off education professionals.
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