CHILE: EDUCATION RIOTS

Riots hit the streets of Chile again this week as demands for education reforms continue to ignored by the centre-right government. Protesters were asking for a increased spending on schooling and  a ‘free and equal’ public education.

Chilean schools are funded on a local level, meaning rich areas also have the best education facilities, while the majority are forced to attend understaffed, poorly maintained and overcrowded schools. Many of the upper-class children are sent abroad or to private schools for their education, so there is little appetite for reform amongst the ruling elite. Another bone of contention has been that private universities enjoy charitable tax status despite making huge profits, which aren’t being spent on educational improvements as required by law.

Demonstrations around education have been prominent in Chile for the past few months, occasionally spilling over into mass civil disobedience with banks, government buildings and the police taking the brunt of the anger. Last Thursday (11th) over 900 arrests in an attempt to prevent a march taking place, on Tuesday (16th) over 100,000 people were forced to march through the side streets of Santiago as they were banned from using the main avenues. Later in the day protesters threw paint, bricks and street furniture at police, who returned fire with water-cannon and tear gas.

By the time the dust settled there were 273 arrests and 23 injured cops.

The government has refused to hold a referendum on education reforms as they feel it would be “dangerous”. Ever increasing privatisation of education and spending cuts in the UK should fuel similar protests on this side of the Atlantic.