Paraguay
Luis Ramírez said he sees no reason for a teachers' strike and defended the government's wage offer
Paraguay's education minister questioned the call for industrial action and said the official proposal addresses the demands raised. The unions, according to ABC Color, are maintaining their plan of action and reject an alleged prior agreement.
Paraguay’s Minister of Education and Sciences, Luis Ramírez, said he finds no grounds to justify a teachers’ strike and warned that an industrial action would end up affecting students by reducing class hours in public schools.
According to ABC Color, the statement was made in an interview with ABC TV, after teachers’ groups denied an alleged agreement announced from Mburuvicha Róga and reaffirmed protests demanding an 8% salary adjustment, coverage of vegetative growth, more positions for grade-school teachers, the incorporation of psychologists and a solution to the lack of free-education funds.
Ramírez said the Executive Branch’s proposal includes a 5% increase and stated that the commitment signed with the sector is to adjust salaries in line with the CPI. In that context, he said he was puzzled by the decision to go ahead with a strike and suggested there could be factors outside the education sphere behind the call.
According to ABC Color, the minister also questioned the pressure logic embedded in conflicts in the education sector and said that type of practice wears down the school community and affects student performance.
He also linked salary improvements to teacher evaluation and training processes. On that point, he recalled that in the latest evaluation, always according to his remarks cited by ABC Color, of 109,000 teachers evaluated, 30,000 passed the reading comprehension tests.
Despite the strike being reaffirmed by organizations such as the Federación de Educadores del Paraguay, Ramírez remained optimistic about the possibility of reaching a broader agreement. According to ABC Color, he said he had the support of more than 50% of the unions and expressed his expectation of reaching 90% union backing.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
