Public universities continue protests against privatization

Students are again set to protest

Students of public universities throughout Chile will continue a series of protests tomorrow, September 2nd, with a national strike to protest the new government’s plan to further privatize public education.

Representatives of CONFECH, an organization that unites students in universities across the country, allege that reforms proposed by the Ministry of Education would have private economic interests at the same negotiating table with university rectors.

They complain, furthermore, that a reformed fiscal financing program would put all higher educational institutions into one group to compete for state funding, which would give a huge advantage to private universities with more resources.

Thursday’s event will be the latest of what seems to be a never ending series of student protests this year, that started with lobbying for the rights of university students affected by the earthquake, and have not stopped since.