Campaña Argentina por el Derecho a la Educación
Argentina: Educational communities in Buenos Aires succeed in canceling the closure of evening public schools
February 12, 2019
Students, education workers, and the Argentinian coalition CADE celebrate the result of their fight against a resolution of the city’s Ministry of Education, which had established the closure of public schools
The Multi-Stakeholders Against the Closure of Night Schools, which the Argentine Campaign for the Right to Education (CADE) actively participates in alliance with educational communities of Argentina, was able to influence the Buenos Aires Education Minister to annul a resolution that mandated the closure of evening public secondary schools in the city of Buenos Aires. According to the resolution #2018-4055, the city’s Ministry of Education had announced that 14 high schools and commercial secondary schools operating at night would be closed as of 2019 and courses would be suppressed at 9 other similar centers.
Evening schools cater primarily to young people from the poorest communities, who study at night because they are either working or job hunting during the day. In December 2018, CADE had expressed its discontentment with the announced resolution, which it considered rushed and ill-timed, considering that it was adopted without any prior dialogue with educational communities on the best ways to solve the challenges of educational institutions.
“By closing the schools, numerous students have seen their possibilities to continue studying seriously jeopardized, even with the proposed school transfers, and, above all, many teachers, interns, substitute teachers, and teaching assistants would lose their jobs” the CADE declaration regarding the closing of evening commercial school stated.
CADE, in partnership with social, student and youth organizations of Argentina, disseminated their declaration and took part in street demonstrations and through engagement in social media platforms, in order to denounce that these type of measures, in times of budgetary adjustments, affect not only the right to public education but also the rights of the less fortunate that live in the city.
The CADE declaration further states, “We urge authorities to reconsider these measures and to seek, consensually and actively, the best ways to strengthen educational institutions and to guarantee the right to education of the students who attend these schools – and those who would want to attend – and the right to the work of teachers and their assistants”.
As a result, on January 30th, the Minister of Education of the city of Buenos Aires annulled the resolution that would definitively close the city’s evening schools.
“This has been a great achievement for the entire educational community, with the active participation of CADE. We are very pleased! Activism and mobilization continue to be important tools to defend public education and the right to the education “, stated Alberto Croce, National Secretary of CADE.
