Student Protests in Santiago

A "taken" school, a school "en toma."

University and high school students across Santiago have been protesting conditions in the educational system in Chile.

Chile's elementary and secondary educational system consists of three types of schools: "particulares" (private schools), "particulares subvencionados"(private but subsidized schools, not unlike our charter schools in the U.S., but that these may also charge tuition), and "municipales" (public schools).  Ordinarily, academic achievement follows the same structure.  The best prepared students, gaining entrance to the best universities, graduated from the "particulares."  The "municipales" have the fewest resources and lowest academic attainment, ordinarily.  Other challenges exist regarding access and funding for university studies, impacted by educational attainment in the primary and secondary levels.

Structurally, there are also many challenges for the "municipales."  Students charge that, in one colegio, the bathrooms have not worked for three years.  Another group attests that they have no mathematics instructor, and the students (!) say that they want to learn and need to learn math!  They seem like just demands.

Hence, students have "taken" their schools.  This photo is of the entrance to a school.  Students have taken over their schools.  They have prohibited entrance to those not of their cause.  They have piled chairs from the classrooms at the gates, like the one above.  The police have not expelled them from the school premises, as educational authorities are trying to avoid a public relations nightmare.

At the same time, yesterday, horses ridden by the national police were injured by protesters.  Repeatedly, in recent weeks, downtown areas have been badly damaged by protesting students.  There are, in another incident, charges and counter-charges of who was responsible for a confrontation between the Minister of Education and university students.

This is Act II of the 2006 Penguin Revolution (Revolucion Pinguina).  See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_student_protests_in_Chile

It is a fierce and contested time, especially in the public schools.  I hope, in the end, that this serves to improve education in Chile, but it requires everyone to step up and act in the best interests of Chile.