Minister sends bill to allow citizen participation in education reform

The education minister sent a draft bill Thursday to repeal a Pinochet-era provision that prohibits citizen participation in forming higher education policies, representing a significant step toward adhering to a core demand from within the student movement.

The draft bill forms part of the government’s National Citizen Participation Plan, which was launched in June 2014 and aims to grant different participants a voice in President Michelle Bachelet’s signature education reform bill. Student leaders noted the show of good faith and the Education Minister Nicolás Eyzaguirre’s “political will” but many remain skeptical.

“The government was going to repeal the provisions in 2011 but failed to do so,” Universidad de Chile Student Federation (FECh) President Melissa Sepúlveda told The Santiago Times. “We aren’t sure what the ministry will do.”

- santiagotimes.cl