FEUNA, FEUCR and MEDSE ask the Government to respect the FEES budget

World news


San José, June 1 (elmundo.cr) – The Federation of Students of the National University (FEUNA), the Federation of Students of the University of Costa Rica (FEUCR), the Secondary Student Movement (MEDSE), asked the Government respect the constitutional provision of allocating 8% of GDP to public education in the national budget.

The students expressed their concern that by 2023, the education budget will be the lowest in the last 9 years with 5.3% of GDP; This budgetary action has been reflected in direct effects on the social programs of the Ministry of Public Education, such as student canteens, transportation for students, technical support, among others.

Marco Zúñiga and Clareth Calderón (president and general secretary of FEUNA), Karen Marín and Valeria Bolaños (president and representative to the FEUCR University Council), Rasheed Silva and Luis Barrantes, from the Secondary Education Student Movement (MEDSE), and Gilbert Díaz, president of the Costa Rican Education Workers Union (SEC).

For Zúñiga, president of FEUNA, the crisis we are going through is structural and systematic, the Social State of Law that this country once built is in a deep crisis, which could become unmanageable if the country invests less and less in education, in the social care programs and the strengthening of public institutions.

Also, the role that Public Education has historically played in our country was highlighted, being a fundamental pillar in human development and social mobility, as well as an engine to reduce gaps and social inequalities, violence and poverty.

Díaz, president of the SEC, supported the feelings of the students in defending the corresponding national budget, he also criticized that in the current crisis we are experiencing an additional cut of ₡3.100 million was made for security, so this FEES negotiation must be done as it should and not have to resort to other actions.

«Defending public education is defending the tools for social equality, it is defending a more dignified life for all people, it is fighting the social, economic and gender inequalities that we are experiencing in this context. Education is the only tool we have as a country, for development and to get ahead in the face of this and any other crisis we are going through,” said Calderón, FEUNA’s general secretary.

Likewise, Marín, president of the FEUCR and student representative in the FEES 2024 negotiation liaison commission, made it very clear that we must stop playing with the present and the future of millions of people who go through the public education system. “Commit yourself to the attention to the true needs of the Costa Rican people, that this crisis is not paid for by education, that it is not used as a business or merchandise, it is a right that we defend and will continue to defend,” she concluded.

From the federations for the negotiation of the FEES 2024, the role in participation during the negotiation is established and will be maintained under the following points:

  1. Exclusion of Public Universities and all public education from the Fiscal Rule established in Law 9635.
  2. Generate a commitment to set as an investment goal in education for the next three years, a staggered percentage as close to 8% as dictated by Article 78 of the Political Constitution, as well as generate the mechanisms to achieve it so that consequently there is no a detriment in the percentage of investment in education, as has happened in the last seven years.
  3. Elimination of the indicators imposed on the Universities by the Government of the Republic, since these indicators can violate the autonomy of the universities. On the contrary, guarantee the tools so that public higher education institutions can meet and strengthen their own goals established in the National Plan for State University Higher Education.
  4. Construction of a common agenda agreement between the Executive Branch and the Public Universities to address the educational crisis based on dialogue and multisectoral agreements.
  5. Respect, strengthen and dignify workers in the education sector. We demand that the first of reducing workloads be fulfilled, a real increase in wages that responds to the cost of living, and that the “transitory global wage” be eliminated.
  6. Establishment of a negotiation budget base for the 2024 FEES that is 2023 FEES + 1% due to recognition of inflation pending the agreement made in 2022.
  7. A growth in real terms of the FEES budget that is greater than that endowed for the year 2023, as dictated by article 85 of the Constitution.

Comments

comments.





source

Rate article
Add a comment