The controversies that keep the education reform in suspense

Uncertainty in the education sector has been worsening due to the reform of the Statutory Law that is currently being debated in the Congress of the Republic. On this occasion, the doubts lie both in the university sector and in Fecode, which warns of privatization in the system.

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Although the bill is being debated in Congress, the reform agenda remains “very tight” so that the passage of this proposal can advance in the legislative time of this semester. which would have until June 20 to be approved.

One of the main parties involved in the disagreements over this reform is the higher education sector. According to a large part of the actors in the country’s private universities, The First Committee of the Senate reached a substantive agreement on this bill, which is currently being unknown.

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According to the signatories of a letter, numbering at least 200, convened by Dialogues of the Future and Connect (CUEE Bogotá-Cundinamarca), there is a breakdown of the agreement in the new presentation of the agreement, especially in the ignorance of university autonomy, lack of recognition of the mixed system and the invisibility of tertiary education.

Portfolio in consultation with some of the higher education actors, confirmed that the text approved in the House of Representatives and predecessor of the agreement reconciled between the different parties in the Senate, implies a series of risks for the sector.

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According to the rector of the EIA University, José Manuel Restrepo, the proposal of the Statutory Law on Education It is a project that on the way through the House of Representatives a series of changes were introduced that “have an enormous ideological bias.”

That said, the academic stated that currently the system needs a bill that contributes to educational advancement based “genuinely” on quality, that is tied to elements such as a good teaching evaluation, oriented towards the results and performance of the teachers.

(Read more: Universities reject alternative proposal for reform of the educational system)

For her part, Gloria Bernal, director of the Educational Economics Laboratory (LEE) of the Javeriana University, told this medium that The Government’s original proposal minimizes and attenuates the role of private institutions within the educational system. Taking into account that this should be a sector that has a balanced participation between the public and the private.

It should be noted that other concerns are the fiscal viability of the law, as well as a rigorous and judicious study of the resources necessary for its development and implementation. “There is a lack of guarantees of adequate and sustainable financing for its implementation, which could lead to its practical failure due to lack of resources,” they maintain.

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José Manuel Restrepo, rector of the EIA University

Sergio Acero Yate / Portfolio

According to José Manuel Restrepo, in general education needs a series of developments that allow the sector to advance. from the point of view of the centers that make up the country academically and economically.

In that sense, the rector insisted that it must be recognized the mixed value of the educational system, especially at the higher level, where there are public institutions and private institutions, official and unofficial They should be walking based on quality.

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Besides, The reform should be a proposal that allows this sector to move in the direction of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Thus, progress in artificial intelligence, internet of things, blockchain, data analytics and knowledge frontiers must be taken into account.

He added that the proposed bill It must be creative and innovative that articulates the competencies and skills that the business sector requires today.where in addition, a consideration of the internationalization and globalization of the world is needed.

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“To a large extent this proposal does not respond to these purposes, except for the one that was reached as a consensus in the First Commission of the Senate of the Republic, which I believe was a consensual proposal, that had the signature of the government parties and the opposition parties, and that was conducted through those indicated routes”said Restrepo.

Education in Colombia.

Mauricio Moreno – El Tiempo

Taking into account that this bill was filed at the beginning of the legislature, It has room to be approved until next June 20, that is, in at least three days. However, according to experts, the reform agenda is “so tight” that it is possible that it will sink into debate.

According to the rector of the EIA, if a consensus is not reached, “the best thing” is for this bill to “sink,” taking into account that “poisons” were injected into this proposal, such as, for example, the concept of direct democracy used for the election of directors in universities.

(See more: Six reasons why the CUT joins the strike for changes to the Statutory Education Law)

“This is an issue that fills the election of rectors of public universities with populism and politicking. I think that this cannot be the way, because it is tremendously wrong and injects a deadly virus into the higher education system in Colombia.a”, he pointed out.

In turn, the director of LEE, indicated that seeing what happened with the pension, which was approved at the push of a button, “It is always a possibility that the House of Representatives proposal that ignores the agreements reached in the first committee of the Senate will pass.”.

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To which he added that “It is up to the senators whether they decide to support the agreement that was brought to the first Senate committee with the parties or reject that agreement.”.

Fecode marches in the “taking of Bogotá”.

MAURICIO MORENO / EL TIEMPO

The Colombian Federation of Education Workers (Fecode) announced a permanent strike on behalf of the Statutory Law on Education, since according to the union this bill prioritizes the privatization of education.

(See: Fecode calls for mobilization in rejection of the statutory education bill)

According to Fecode, “The law incorporates a mixed approach to education, enabling its privatization and commercialization, which reflects the interest in imposing symbiosis between the public resource and the private sector.”.

Furthermore, they reiterate that another of the critical points of this bill is the teacher evaluation system, which, according to their suggestion, The results of the qualification can influence the job stability of teachers.

(Read more: What’s next for the education reform after being approved in the third debate)