TEACHER'S UNION TAKES IT ON THE CHIN OVER TEST

UNCLAS LIMA 000667

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PE
SUBJECT: TEACHER'S UNION TAKES IT ON THE CHIN OVER TEST
RESULTS

REF: A. LIMA 33

B. LIMA 167

Sensitive But Unclassified. Please handle accordingly.


1. (SBU) Summary: Minister of Education Jose Antonio Chang on
February 23 announced the results of a nationwide teacher
examination held in January: almost 50 percent of public
school teachers were unable to answer simple questions about
mathematics, and more than 30 percent were functionally
illiterate. The radical teacher's union SUTEP (the United
Syndicate of Educational Workers) initially questioned the
results, but in the face of overwhelming public criticism,
issued an apology for the same. The mea culpa handed the
Garcia administration a decisive win in an ongoing struggle
to implement a meaningful program of educational reform. End
Summary.


2. (U) Minister Change announced on February 23 that more
than 192,000 public school teachers had undergone
standardized testing in January. Forty-seven percent of
those tested were unable to solve simple math equations, and
33 percent were unable to read at a basic level. Less than
two percent were able to pass all three levels of the test in
both reading and mathematics. Primary school teachers and
those working in rural areas received the lowest scores.
Chang called the results "immoral."


3. (U) In response, SUTEP came out swinging: Secretary
General Caridad Montes said the government had administered
the tests unfairly, and she threatened to follow through with
plans for a nationwide strike to disrupt the opening of
school March 1. Montes' remarks echoed a February 5
interview she held with Poloff, in which she blamed the
government for failing to fund schools properly and accused
Chang of using the exam as a pretext for firing teachers and
destroying the union. She claimed SUTEP represented nearly
all of Peru's public school teachers, a claim most analysts
consider widely inflated. Montes spent January and February
blasting the administration's reform plans in the press and
accusing President Garcia of "fascist tendencies." Peru's
largest union, the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers
(CGTP),came out in support of SUTEP, but most unions elected
to remain on the sidelines, and even CGTP support was tepid.


4. (U) A survey by the University of Lima in February showed
63 percent of those polled disapproved of SUTEP, and an equal
percentage blamed teachers for the poor state of Peruvian
education; in contrast, the GOP's education policies received
a 59 percent approval rating. The Lima press had a field day
mocking SUTEP. In the words of one editorialist, SUTEP was
the first teacher's union whose members could neither read
nor add. On February 27, SUTEP ran up the white flag.
Olmedo Auris, a senior SUTEP official, publicly apologized to
parents of school children for the poor test results and said
that his union had canceled plans for a strike. Auris
admitted that SUTEP had misjudged the depth of frustration
over public education, and he offered to begin a dialogue
with the government to "commit to improve the quality of
education" in Peru.


5. (U) Chang insisted that the reform process would move
forward. The Ministry of Education has presented a bill to
Congress defining teachers as essential public employees,
thus legally banning them from striking. The bill has
gathered support in the Peruvian Congress and has already
been approved in committee. Chang said the educational
system had failed students for 30 years, and he had no plans
to meet with SUTEP. (Comment: Chang canceled a February 22
meeting with Embassy officials. Ministry contacts said he
did not want to meet with the Embassy during a high-profile
conflict with a left-wing union. End Comment) Chang offered
training to those who had failed the exam, but he warned that
those who failed three times would be fired.


6. (SBU) Comment: SUTEP Secretary General Caridad Montes
badly misjudged public frustration with public education in
general and with SUTEP in particular, much of it left over
after a violent strike in 2003 that caused school to be
suspended for six weeks. One obvious indication of
unhappiness is the fact that 15 percent of Peruvian school
children, mostly from the middle and upper classes, attend
private schools. Senior SUTEP officials are committed to a
Communist vision of society that leaves no room for political

pluralism, and the administration could not have moved
forward with plans for educational reform had it acquiesced
to SUTEP's demands to end testing (see reftels for an
analysis of other issues related to education reform). The
administration calculated correctly that SUTEP had few
friends, even within organized labor, and relied on Garcia's
popularity and his bully pulpit to counter claims of union
bashing with demands for quality education for all of Peru's
children, especially the poor. For the moment, the GOP can
claim a political victory that has not only bolstered the
President's popularity but also set the stage for a much
needed overhaul of a highly politicized union and an outdated
educational system. End Comment.
STRUBLE