Colombian students announced Sunday to repeat last year’s month-long strike over a pensing higher education reform.
Students from all over Colombia will protest on September 5 to remind the government it has failed to implement a new education reform after a controversial proposal was withdrawn last November when thousands of students went on strike for five weeks.
“The demonstration will link students from various public and private institutions and aims to bring together some 500,000 people,” National Student Round Table spokesman Oscar Mauricio Aponte told Radio Caracol.
The government withdrew last year’s proposed Law 30 reform, which students and educators said would lead to the privatization of education, and offered students and university leaders to help create a new reform. Although universities presented a draft education reform bill in February, the government has failed to implement a successful reform yet.
In response to the announced strike, Colombia’s president Juan Manuel Santos said he is “interested in a dialogue” and “willing to discuss” the reform with students before the protest in September.