2018 student protests in Colombia

The 2018 student protests in Colombia, or the national university strike in Colombia in 2018 was carried out between October 10 and December 16, 2018. It consisted of a series of protests and mobilizations carried out by students from public and private universities in Colombia due to the crisis of financing public education and its subsequent decision to its underfunding and the state repression of the country's student movements. It was carried out during the government of Iván Duque.

Background

In September 2018, the National Congress announced the General Budget of the Nation for 2019. The education sector, with $ 41.4 billion, was assigned the highest amount, followed by defense, with $ 33.6 billion, which was insufficient for the maintenance of Colombian public universities, since $ 500 billion is needed to close 2018; $ 3.2 trillion for operational expenses, and $ 15 trillion to pay off the “historical debt” in infrastructure and educational quality. Law 30 of 1992, which regulates transfers from the nation to universities, adjusted resources based on the consumer price index (CPI). This means that there is no growth of the resource, but a correction of the money year after year. Which despite the increase in university coverage does not finance this increase in coverage.

Other causes of the strike were the "Ser Pilo Paga" program that received resources from Public Education to keep subsidized students in private universities, the economic policy of ICETEX, and the repeal of Law 1911 of 2018. Previously, student mobilizations have had an important role in the political life of the country: during the conservative hegemony of the 1920s, the protests during the dictatorship and the fall of General Rojas Pinilla, the 1971 National University Strike, the University protests.