EDUCATION REFORM LEGISLATION DIVIDES FRENTE

UNCLAS MONTEVIDEO 000709 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/BSC MARY DASCHBACH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV SOCI ELAB UY SUBJECT: EDUCATION REFORM LEGISLATION DIVIDES FRENTE AMPLIO, BUT PASSES REF: MONTEVIDEO 667 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The governing Frente Amplio party (FA; "Broad Front") proposed legislation to restructure Uruguay's public education system at all levels, seeking to fulfill its campaign promise to modernize the system and make it more accountable. The bill was approved in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Teachers, who usually support the FA, have been vocal in their opposition because of the increased management of the system by the State. In addition, opposition parties have expressed their displeasure with the legislation, as well as some within the FA. The Communist Party (PCU) voted against the bill despite a call for coalition discipline. This was the second time within two weeks (the first was the abortion bill - reftel) that President Tabare Vazquez was challenged from within the FA. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) The FA promised education reform as part of its platform during the 2004 presidential campaign, and the Vazquez administration has worked to fulfill the pledge ahead of the upcoming election cycle. In March, President Vazquez asked outgoing Education Minister Jorge Brovetto to work with incoming Minister Maria Simon to finish drafting the bill's text. The legislation is designed to replace the "Emergency Law of Education" that was approved in 1985 at the end of the military dictatorship. ¶3. (U) The legislation includes the following main points: a) Modify the Central Directive Council (Codicen) and the organizational bodies governed by the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) to include teacher representation. b) Include consultative commissions made up of students, parents and guardians, and officials who are not teachers in each education council. In the Professional Technical Education Council (UTU),one or more consultative commission will include representatives from businesses and labor. c) Create three new bodies under the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC): the Coordinator Council for Early Childhood Education (0-3 years),the National Institute for Informal Education, and the National Institute for Education Evaluation. At the same time, form a Coordinating Commission for the National Public Education System, which will coordinate ANEP, MEC, and the University of the Republic (UDELAR),though it will be a part of MEC. d) Form a commission with representatives of ANEP and UDELAR to draft a proposal for creating a University Institute of Education to train teachers, professors, and social educators. e) Make formal education obligatory for children aged 4 to 18, with a minimum of 900 hours per year of classroom instruction. NOTE: This increases the classroom requirement; in order to comply, schools will either have to increase the school day by an hour or add an extra month to each school year. END NOTE. f) Create a Council of Junior High and Vocational Training Education, in order to bridge the division between these traditional systems which serve the same age students, despite having different curricula. g) Recognize credits earned at all levels of education in order to permit the lateral mobility of students between the different school systems. h) Call for the creation of a National Commission for Human Rights Education and a National Commission of Scholarships, as well as coordinate a physical education and sports program. ¶4. (U) The education reform bill passed the Chamber of Deputies with a vote of 50-19 late on December 1, and was presented to the Senate the next day. The FA leadership indicated that it wanted a quick debate on the bill to secure its approval prior to the summer recess. In the Senate, despite a committee vote of 4-3 against the bill, the legislation arrived at the floor for consideration on December 10, where it was approved 16-15. Protesters in the Senate gallery jeered the announcement of the legislation's passage and came to blows with security guards attempting to restore order. -------------- LABOR & OPPOSITION BOTH CRITICAL OF LAW -------------- ¶5. (U) As the Chamber of Deputies debated, members of teachers unions demonstrated outside the Palacio Legislativo, claiming that this legislation betrays FA objectives. The unions claim the law opens the door to privatization of education by allowing businesses to intervene in the National Commission for Education and the education system as a whole. They also assert that the legislation violates the autonomy of ANEP. Teachers held a 24 hour strike nationally at the secondary level and additionally at the primary level in Montevideo and Canelones on the day of the vote. ¶6. (U) Evidence of internal fracturing, the FA was not able to keep all its coalition parties in line. The PCU decided on November 30 that its members should vote in the negative because the bill reduces autonomy of the educational system. The PCU,s stance exposed the party to potential sanctions from the Frente's Board, including exclusion from the political process. In the face of the FA internal plenary congress (December 13-14),however, the FA backed away from the imposition of sanctions in this instance, leaving some party observers concerned that this could lead to further breaking of ranks within the FA over other issues. ¶7. (U) Opposition from the Blanco, Colorado, and Independent parties has been just as vocal, but for different reasons; they complained that the law institutionalizes the role of the unions in management of the education and that they were not included in the bill's drafting. Some opposition members have suggested postponing the bill's approval until a broader political and social consensus has been reached. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: As with the vetoed legislation to legalize abortion (reftel),the internal FA debate over the education law demonstrates the coalition's struggle to balance demands of its party base with the development of a party platform that will be competitive in the upcoming election. By adopting this law, the FA hopes to show it has kept its campaign promises. As the opposition continues to attack long-standing problems of quality of education during presidential campaign events, indications of progress will be increasingly important to the Frente leadership. END COMMENT. Baxter