AMERICA/MEXICO - The Bishops of Oaxaca ask for a truce to start dialogue with teachers

Tuesday, 28 June 2016 education   development   bishops  

San Cristobal (Agenzia Fides) - A Commission of deputies and senators "should listen to the complaints, objections and doubts of teachers who are unhappy of the education reform, because they all admit that it is not complete, and does not take into consideration content and methods, but is only regulatory and administrative": is the opinion expressed by the Bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, in Chiapas, His Exc. Mgr. Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel (see Fides 21, 24/06/2016).
In a meeting with the local press, on Sunday evening, June 26, the Bishop said: "If President (Enrique Peña Nieto) postponed the law on transparency because entrepreneurs wanted it, the same could be done with some aspects of the educational reform, as requested by teachers.
Perhaps entrepreneurs are worth more than teachers?".
According to information sent to Fides from a local source, the Bishop stressed that "it is up to senators and federal deputies to open a channel of dialogue" with unhappy teachers. "If in other states the law was passed without major conflicts, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacán and Tabasco have situations that are not similar to other places", he noted. Finally, for Mgr. Arizmendi "the abuse of public force to repress teachers must be condemned, but we must also support these dialogues with federal authorities, so that some points of the educational reform can be changed".
The Bishops of the Province of Oaxaca issued a message, on June 26, in which they condemn the recent acts of violence and vandalism, to remind us that "we are all part of the same society, and we must learn to search together what we need to improve", they point out that "the greatest wealth of Oaxaca is its people", and finally launched an appeal "to all of society, in particular to authorities and teachers, to immediately declare a general ceasefire between the parties, and allow to lay the foundations for a constructive and transparent dialogue". (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 28/06/2016)


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