AMERICA/CHILE – Local Catholic Church committed to educational reform nation wide

Santiago (Agenzia Fides) – The Catholic Church in Chile looks with hope towards the reform of the country’s education system, the Bishops say this reform is very necessary, as interest and desire to cooperate for its success grow . Yesterday, 29 May, at the head office of the Chilean Catholic Bishops Conference (CECh) in Santiago, Bishop Héctor Eduardo Vargas Bastidas, S.D.B., of the diocese of Temuco, presented a statement prepared by the CECh Commission for Education, of which he is chairman, containing certain aspects of the education reform.
In a report sent to Fides, the CECh underlines the need to offer the entire community an education programme aimed at preparing students to build a serious project for life, a project which takes the concerns of young people into account and offers definitive solutions. The Press Conference ended with a call from the Church to government authorities to shed light on certain shady points of the reform.
Education reforms in Chile are of national importance. For years the country has experienced a situation of conflict between government authorities, students and teachers’ trade unions, precisely because of the absence of reforms in the country’s system of education. (see Fides 26/09/2012, Fides 07/03/2013). (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 30/05/2014)