The Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile (FECh), the University of Chile's student federation, celebrated its 120th anniversary with a carnival in Plaza Baquedano, according to radio.uchile.cl. The event focused on defending public education and rejecting the cuts the Government proposed for the sector in the 2027 Budget.
Faculties from the Universidad de Santiago (Usach) also took part in the demonstration, parading with floats. The source does not specify the exact date of the carnival or the number of attendees.
At a press briefing, FECh president Laura Mlynarz addressed the 3% reduction in the Education portfolio that the Executive plans for 2027. The student leader listed three concrete effects that, in her view, the adjustment will have.
The first is the end of computer handouts to students in séptimo básico (seventh grade). The second is the reduction of the base budget of state universities, that is, the permanent resources that fund their operations. The third is a cut in hours for teachers and early childhood educators.
"These cuts have names," Mlynarz said. As she explained, they are students who will not be able to access education, teachers who will lose their jobs and children who will attend kindergartens without the required number of educators.
The leader also criticized the lack of dialogue with the Government. She said that since the start of the current administration, FECh has asked to meet with the Minister of Education, without success. "Unfortunately we have not been able to have it," she said.
Mlynarz argued that this lack of engagement calls for "taking to the streets again." She recalled that on October 1 the Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile (Confech), Chile's national student confederation, brought together more than 25,000 people under the slogan "not one peso less for public education."
FECh, which reorganized in May of this year, is coordinating actions with various unions. The focus is on the budget debate in Congress and the public sector pay adjustment, scheduled for November.
