Guatemala: Teaching Talk Suspended
The possibility of solving a teaching conflict in Guatemala was set back Tuesday with temporary suspension of a dialogue between the government and teaching leaders on questioned neoliberal reforms.

These talks, mediated by the Catholic Church, should have started this month, but were suspended after the government rejected the teachers´ request to exclude Education Minister Maria del Carmen Aceña from the negotiating table.

Aceña, criticized for a program of reforms and several deficiencies in her work, received last week a vote of distrust from Congress, obliging her to resign, but Guatemalan President Oscar Berger kept her post alive.

Teachers rejected talks with Aceña and requested inclusion of students, parents and the general education community in these talks, in order to make decisions on the future of teaching.

The conflict began in December, when the minister announced a group of measures for this sector, rejected by teachers, because their aim is to privatize public education.