Although there were no consequences for the eight who were photographed outside, at the end of February the General Directorate of Secondary Education decided to sanction the six teachers from San José who in 2019 took photos inside high school 1 of the departmental capital once morest the Living reform without fear. Because of this, both the National Federation of Secondary Education Teachers (Fenapes) and its Maragata subsidiary declared themselves in conflict.
Although other facts were included, that of the San José teachers was the main one that led Fenapes to file a complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO). Yesterday leaders of Education International (EI), including its Secretary General, David Edwards, visited the department. There they gave a press conference in which they expressed their solidarity with the accused teachers and were clear that when cases of “union persecution” appear, they must be stopped from the beginning so that the situation does not worsen.
Edwards stated that Uruguay is currently one of the seven countries with claims of this type in the ILO, along with Brazil, the Philippines, Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Zimbabwe. For her part, Fátima Silva, regional vice president of Latin America at EI and a Brazilian union leader, said that the situations that Fenapes has denounced are similar to what is happening in her country with the government of Jair Bolsonaro, which she does not consider a example to follow. As she illustrated, the president himself requested a few hours ago the dismissal of a teacher because he considered that he “indoctrinates” his students. In addition, there are schools with a military presence who monitor what is taught in classes and how teachers and students dress.
Silva stated that when actions of this type occur, workers from other countries have to be vigilant, since they can be replicated in other places. In this sense, he said that it is necessary to “make a cut” from the persecution measures carried out by education authorities in Uruguay and considered that these types of actions actually reveal “mediocrity.”
