AMERICA/VENEZUELA - "Give teachers their salaries": church’s appeal in favor of teachers

Ciudad Guayana (Agenzia Fides) - "The Episcopal Conference of Venezuela expresses its full support to employees and workers of the Association for the Promotion of Popular Education (APEP), which is experiencing a very unfair and difficult situation", said His Exc. Mgr. Mariano José Parra Sandoval, Bishop of Ciudad Guayana and member of the Education Commission of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference. Mgr. Parra Sandoval spoke last Friday after the conclusion of the Plenary Assembly of Bishops (see Fides 12/07/2014).
According to a note sent to Fides, APEP was created 50 years ago thanks to the initiative of Mgr. Emilio Blaslov to serve the working classes in their professional training. APEP is subsidized with the help of international agencies and private companies. The teachers’ salaries, however, were paid by the Ministry of Education.
This system of mutual collaboration worked without any problem until 2009, when, without any warning, the Ministry halved the budget approved by the National Assembly. In addition, according to the Bishops of the CEV, "So far the teachers have not received the amount set aside in the budget for 2014 from the Ministry of Education".
The problem affects 400 000 children and 2,300 employees (teachers and staff) in 275 APEP schools. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 14/07/2014)