Students lose up to 35% of class time per year due to Fecode protests

Through a statement posted on its social networks, the National Federation of Education Workers (Fecode), announced that, at the same time the Unitary Confederation of Workers, CTC and CGTthey will march this March 16 in favor of the reforms proposed by the national government, for which the country’s students will again lose class, it will be the third time that the union organization has participated in mobilizations so far in 2023.

“For the defense of the right to life, to decent work, to pensions, to health and to education, this Thursday everyone in the street! is the message with which Fecode invites the almost 270,000 teachers currently affiliated to the union to participate in the day of marches in favor of the proposed reforms and in the framework of the presentation to Congress of the document on the reform of work and pensions in the country. The main cities of this demonstration will be Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga and Pereira.

From the 2023 academic calendar, Fecode He participated in two marches, so it will be the third time that students in the country have lost classes due to a day of mobilizations in which educators participate.

The first of her was recorded last February 14th, within the framework of the national strike and the day of mobilizations in which social movements and unions favorable to the government of Gustavo Petro participated; on this occasion, the document on health reform was presented, in addition FecodeDuring these marches, supporters of the president, indigenous communities and politicians from the government coalition participated.

While the last time educators took to the streets to demonstrate, it was tuesday february 28, 13 days ago. On this occasion, the trade union organization mobilized within the framework of the delivery of a list of demands to the Ministry of Education, which demanded better working conditions, more and better materials, the arrival of a single day for teachers, an increase in the number of educators, in addition to the relevance of the improvements made to the current health system.

The loss of class in the country’s schools is not new, since on average there are 78 days of unemployment per year per Fecodewhich equals 39% of class time in the Colombian academic calendar. This was presented in the research “Rights in conflict: teacher protest and the quality of education”, conducted by Luz Karime Abadía Alvarado, Silvia Gómez Soler and Juanita Cifuentes Gonzálezteachers from the Javeriana University.

This research was carried out in the light of the impact generated by the strikes of educators carried out between 2000 and 2016 in the country, analyzing the results of students in the Tests Know 11. This study showed that young people who were exposed to more times of protests by educators, scored lower on their tests, highlighting that those who were most affected were high school students, because this is when where they see most topics. which are tested in the national test.

The research also indicates that teacher protests during this period accounted for 37% of all social strikes in Colombia, so they were in total 478 mobilizations in which this trade union organization participated, which does not mean that they were always called by Fecodebut also by trade unions or unions that have mobilized for issues that are not directly related to education or educators.