Colombia’s national student union launched a two-day protests campaign on Tuesday to pressure the government to make substantive steps toward a pending education reform.
The students have been pushing an alternative reform proposal they submitted to the government last month.
The protests, organized in all major cities, are the second since President Juan Manuel Santos took office in August 2010.
Protests organized in 2011 mobilized hundreds of thousands of students and forced the Colombian government to cancel plans for a higher education reform that were opposed by the students.
The students claim that the government has failed to follow up on promises that the students would be involved in designing the reforms. Additionally, the students claim Colombia’s universities are chronically underfunded.
As of yet, only two days of protests have been announced, though organizers have said they will be studying the government’s response they so far have deemed as inadequate.
MORE: Colombia Government Takes Steps To Avoid National Student Strike
On Monday, Colombia military police established checkpoints around Bogota and other cities, in case the protests turn violent.
The students are not the only ones on the streets; Following the celebration of Race Day, the Colombian equivalent of Columbus Day, tens of thousands of indigenous began marches to demand attention for their grievances regarding territories and violence aimed at indigenous tribes.
MORE: 120,000 Indigenous Protesters March Throughout Colombia: ONIC
Sources
- MANE Facebook page
- MANE Twitter
- MANE blog
- Con “desnudoton” inicia paro estudantil convocado por la MANE (Caracol Radio)
- Ejercito vigilira Bogota durante paro estudantil (RCN Radio)
