Guatemala Teachers,
Government Crash
Disagreements between
the National Teaching
Assembly (ANM) and the
Guatemalan government
increased Wednesday,
after the teachers'
announcement of a
national strike to
request their demands.
According to ANM leader
Joviel Acevedo, when
Alvaro Colom was the
country's
president-elect, he
accepted a list of
demands from that
sector, which have not
been implemented yet.
Among them are to work
in the Republic's
Congress to achieve a
budget for the education
sector of at least three
percent of the National
Gross Domestic Product,
including the repair and
construction of school
centers.
Also on the list is to
improve school food
programs, educational
equipment and
scholarships for
low-income students,
boost an educative
reform and promulgate a
National Education Law.
According to Acevedo, to
achieve those
improvements, the
country must create at
least eight work tables,
and there is no
initiative yet to do so,
for which there will be
a national strike on
January 31.
Colom expressed his will
to fulfill those
commitments and denied a
confrontation with the
teaching sector.
Not only Guatemalan
archbishop Rodolfo
Quezada, but also Human
Rights Attorney Sergio
Morales expressed their
intention to mediate in
the conflict to avoid a
labor strike that will
affect nearly two
million students.
Education Minister Ana
de Molina informed on an
invitation by the ANM
leadership to negotiate
as of February 1 pending
points of the Collective
Working Agreement. |
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