Colombia’s government and teachers have reached an agreement to end an ongoing strike and as a result resume academic activities.
After negotiating for several hours, representatives of the Government and the Colombian Federation of Educators, Fecode, reached an agreement to put an end to the national strike of teachers which started on May 14.
MORE: Colombia national teachers union launches indefinite strike
Fecode president, Luis Gruvert told Radio Blu that there must be an improvement and modernization in the evaluation of teachers, adding that the government should give “solutions, not suspensions.”
Fecode announced the end of the strike on its Twitter, declaring that after an extensive negotiation they had ended the strike.
MAGISTERIO LEVANTA PARO NACIONAL: Luego de una extensa negociación entre el Comité Ejecutivo y el gobierno y en medio de un paro naci…
— fecode (@fecode) May 17, 2014
Deputy Minister of Education, July Alandete, said the problem is that teacher assessment is a tax figure has nothing to do with the educational act. He noted that “we must focus on how to overcome the crisis with mechanisms that lead to school success.”
¡Importante! @Mineducacion y @fecode llegan a un acuerdo. Se inicia la formulación de un modelo de evaluación más moderno y pertinente.
— Ministerio Educación (@Mineducacion) May 17, 2014
An estimated 334,000 teachers participated in the strike, which caused class cancellations for some 8,700,000 students throughout the country.
Sources
- Declaración de la ministra de Educación, María Fernanda Campo Saavedra (Centro Virtual de Noticias de la Educacion)
- Gobierno y Fecode, cerca de llegar a acuerdo (Blu Radio)
