Chile’s Daily News: August 22

Families gathered to celebrate education on Sunday

About one million people gathered yesterday at Parque O’Higgins in Santiago to celebrate “Domingo familiar por la educación,” an event that was called for by students and teachers. The spokesperson of CONFECH, Camila Vallejo said that spring had started with anticipation.

“The Chilean people want, need and demand a structural reform of the educational model,” she said.

“The government has been left alone and it needs to understand that holding an ideological posture whose objective is to profit, doesn’t have a base,” the spokesperson said.

According to Cristóbal Lagos, the executive secretary of the federation of students in Chile, FECH, the government is “full of panic.”

18 people have died due to cold weather

Volunteers visited various areas of Chile.

The former minister of education and now minister of planning, Joaquín Lavín, said that 18 people have died in Chile due to the intense cold weather registered in the country in the last weeks.

The last person that passed away is said to be a 21-year-old youngster from Temuco, 680 kilometers south of Santiago.

However, Lavín did not specify the period in which these losses were recorded in a shelter enabled yearly for people that live on the streets. He also announced that according to a national census, 11,000 people under 18 live outdoors.

The census was conducted by 9,000 volunteers that toured the different parts of the country.

Piñera: “Often, students only think about their own needs”

President Sebastián Piñera said that he shares the “essence” of the demands for better education made by students but he considers that “often, students only think about their own needs.”

“I want to remind the students, that without a doubt, they are very important in our society but there are other sectors that also have urgent needs,” he said. “Their demands are legitimate but not the only ones.”

He also noted that the government shares the “essence and soul” of the student movement. “We want to give a big jump in matters of education.”

He defended the need to strengthen public universities, although he stood up for the “innovation and venture” provided by private institutions.