The National Union of Educators (UNE) announced that the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, violates the Constitution and the Organic Law of Intercultural Education (LOEI) by proposing a pro forma budget for next year that would cut USD 952 million.
Isabel Vargas, national president of the UNE, indicated that investment for education will suffer a cut. Subtracting resources for the social sphere, prioritizing the timely payment of the foreign debt and allocating USD 9,000 million for amortization are signs of a neoliberal government, Vargas emphasized.
The National Union of Educators demands from the National Assembly to comply with the provision that in each fiscal year the annual increase equivalent to 0.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the education sector must be given, which will be calculated on the base of the initial or codified budget, whichever is greater.
The Government allocates USD 3,419 million in the proforma for education, while in 2021 USD 3,697 million were executed. That is, there is a clear damage to education, according to the UNE.
With this background, the leadership of the educators considered that the amount assigned by the Executive does not comply with the aforementioned regulations and the USD 547 million is not added, which corresponds to the 0.5% increase in GDP as stipulated by the Constitution. In this sense, Ecuador has a GDP of USD 109,618 million, the budget for education for 2022 should be USD 4,365 million, with an impact of 952 million dollars.
Vargas pointed out that according to the Central Bank there is a year-on-year growth of 8.4% in the country’s economy. Therefore, to finance education, it is not necessary to request the contribution from parents who have so far contributed USD 13 million through the different financial or material contributions that are being requested in educational establishments at the beginning of the school year.
Another aspect that worries teachers is that in the proforma USD 210 million is allocated for the dismissal of public servants in different contractual modalities, of which USD 120 correspond to education.
The leader expressed that it is essential to return to face-to-face classes to strengthen educational inclusion. Also, the UNE requests the re-entry of the dismissed or disengaged teachers and the incorporation into the educational system of the students who left it.
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