Chilean teachers' union begins walk to the National Congress to demand that the authorities give priority to education, demanding the approval of the Coexistence Law project and the historical debt of the teachers. teleSUR
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00:00In Chile, $17,000 a month for half a working day was the salary that the former Minister
00:06of Education of SebastiƔn PiƱera had assigned to a private university, uncovering the scandal
00:11about business in education.
00:13From Santiago, Chile, our colleague Paola Dragni with the details.
00:18They are two sides of the same coin.
00:21The Chilean Teachers Association will walk for three days in a procession to Congress
00:25that seeks to draw the government's attention to different issues such as the teachers'
00:30historical debt and the school coexistence bill, among many others.
00:36We have the issue of public education that is falling apart.
00:39It is no exaggeration to say it.
00:42There are places where it is literally falling apart.
00:44Roofs are collapsing, schools are flooded, there are unsanitary bathrooms, there are
00:49plagues of mice.
00:51This is true at the municipal level as well as in the local services.
00:55Public education that have not solved many of the problems.
01:02A government ironically headed by former student leaders who seem to have forgotten their old
01:07demands.
01:08Everything remains the same in school and university education.
01:13The private world does not let go of the business and the scandal with the former Education
01:18Minister of SebastiƔn PiƱera, Marcela Cubillos, is the tip of the iceberg.
01:23Mrs. Cubillos is not untouchable.
01:28That is why we have asked the Comptroller's Office for a pronouncement regarding the actions
01:32she carried out when she was Minister of Education, because her argument of trying to protect
01:37herself behind her freedom is not an argument that shields her from having to answer to
01:41state institutions and in this case to the Comptroller's Office for State Resources.
01:51Marcela Cubillos, when she was Minister of Education, reportedly transferred close to
01:57one and a half million dollars to San SebastiƔn University, where she later worked as a professor
02:03with a salary of $17,000 a month for half a day.
02:07And she is proud of it.
02:10This is a private university that has autonomy.
02:13The students that enter the San SebastiƔn University choose a private project, a project
02:18without free education.
02:19What does the left want?
02:21Again, that all universities should be state universities and that the left should be the
02:25ones to define what is taught, who teaches, how it is taught.
02:29This does not exist in Chile because we said no two years ago in the rejection.
02:35She was a key face during the campaign for the change of constitution, sharpening the
02:40message against public education but without opposing state contributions.
02:45Now, it is clearer why.
02:49We are concerned about this $1,500 million that were transferred to the San SebastiƔn
02:55University, which looks more like the University of San SebastiƔn PiƱera, because it has
03:00become the paymaster of countless officials and collaborators of this government.
03:08Practically all the right-wing politicians who were with the late former president are
03:12now in this university company.
03:17There is a legal issue that is clearly being seen in the judicial system and the superintendents
03:21of education, which is also important to us.
03:25And the university has had no response to us, the students, due to the same case of
03:29Marcela Cubillos.
03:31This case was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
03:37The students of this university are outraged.
03:41They denounce academic and infrastructural shortcomings.
03:44But in the free market, marketing seems to be the most important thing.