In a session in which representatives of student unions were not allowed to speak, the Education, Youth and Sports Commission of Congress yesterday approved the opinion by insistence that modifies the board of directors of the Sunedu to include representatives of universities in the task of supervising and authorizing themselves.
There were ten votes in favor, six once morest and one abstention that gave free rein for the opinion, which rejected all the observations presented by the Executive, to be debated for the last time in plenary despite the rejection of the rectors of more than 40 Peruvian universities, student federations, the National Education Council, Sineace, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Ministry of Education and thousands of students who marched in more than ten cities a few weeks ago.
READ ALSO: Sunedu: Why is it dangerous to return to a system similar to the defunct ANR?
The initiative had been presented by Esdras Medina (Popular Renovation), president of the commission, postgraduate student at a university with a license denied and denounced for plagiarizing a Comptroller’s report for his master’s thesis. He also had the support of congressmen Álex Paredes (Bloque Magisterial), Luis Cordero (Fuerza Popular) and Pedro Edwin Martínez, graduates of universities with denied licenses.
During the debate, parliamentarian Ruth Luque (Democratic Change) requested the intervention of spokespersons from university unions who had come to the commission to express their opinion on the rule that directly impacts them. Medina refused, assuring that during the development of the project the voices of all the actors involved had been heard.
This version was denied by the students. ”At no time have student leaders or representatives of unions from Lima and regions been summoned to make the consultation. They only listened to rectors who are in favor of change at Sunedu”, Paulocesar Santos, spokesperson for the collective ‘Education is respected,’ told El Comercio. In his opinion, the fact that they were not listened to shows their little interest in reflecting on educational quality. “It is a bill supported by political and economic groups. They are not interested in regulation, students or young people, they are interested in having control of the technical entity”he added.
Recoil
In addition to changing the structure of Sunedu’s board of directors (the members were chosen by public competition and now at least three would be appointed directly by universities), the opinion removes the Minedu the rectory of university higher education and it is ordered reactivate without changes the National System of Evaluation, Accreditation and Certification of Educational Quality (Sineace)a voluntary accreditation body that in 2014 underwent reorganization with the University Law.
“Sineace has accredited 11 university programs with a license denied. It has become clear that it has not worked. Luque said during his intervention in the debate.
In fact, this same body has described the opinion as a “regression in the assurance of educational quality in the country” because it reduces the independence of the regulatory bodies. In a previous report published by this JournalPatricia Salas, former Minister of Education and advisor to the National Education Council (CNE), explained that the Sineace board is also made up of representatives of universities and institutes that later have the task of being accredited. “It suffers from the same flaw as the new Sunedu [que busca aprobar el Congreso]where the regulator is the regulated party itself and there is a conflict of interest”, said. The restructuring of Sineace through a law that is approved by Parliament is still pending.
For Ricardo Cuenca, former Minister of Education, that the commission has not discussed in depth the observations of the Executive shows that they prioritize the political and economic interests behind the norm. On May 30, President Pedro Castillo observed the autograph, considering that it is unconstitutional and affects the impartiality and autonomy of said body.
It is questioned that it returns to the organizational scheme of the disappeared National Assembly of Rectors (ANR) where the universities were judge and party in the supervision and authorization of higher education institutions. With the reformulation of the opinion, the board of directors of Sunedu would be as follows: two representatives of public universities, one of private universities, one of the National System of Evaluation, Accreditation and Certification of Educational Quality (Sineace), one of the National Council of Science , Technology and Technological Innovation (Concytec), one from the National Council of Deans of Professional Associations of Peru and one from the Ministry of Education. Also, the superintendent will no longer be appointed by the education minister, but by the council members.
During the debate, congresswoman Flor Pablo (Purple Party) recognized that there are changes that must be adopted to advance in the university reform, but insisted on the need to have a system of checks and balances to guarantee an autonomy that does not become autocracy. “It is a law that directly affects the heart of the reform because the State is deprived of the possibility of creating, supervising and closing universities that do not meet the basic quality conditions,” emphasized.
The argument for the new law is that in this way university autonomy would be recovered. However, Cuenca points out that there is no evidence that it has been affected in the eight years since the creation of Sunedu. “This does a lot of damage to the reform and to young people. There is no evidence that autonomy is violated, the Constitutional Court has said. When asked in what way it violates, the congressmen who support the change have no arguments, they repeat it as a filler”, Cuenca told this newspaper.
Last Monday, the Sunedu Attorney General presented a precautionary measure before the Superior Court of Justice of Lima to request the provisional suspension of the parliamentary approval and promulgation procedure until the amparo lawsuit filed by this body is concluded. Student unions have announced that they will carry out a national march to express their rejection of the university counter-reform.
