Press
Hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in Buenos Aires to demand free education. The reason is the reduced budget for universities in Argentina.
Buenos Aires – In Argentina, around 500,000 people took to the streets against the right-wing populist President Javier Milei. In the capital Buenos Aires, students in particular demonstrated against the planned financial cuts in the education sector. As the daily News reports, despite the inflation rate of 288 percent, the budget for universities should not be increased. Recently it was even cut by around 71 percent as part of Milei's “austerity policy”.
Universities in Argentina would have to close
Without an increase in funding, the university in Buenos Aires would no longer be able to pay employees' salaries from mid-year, the Argentine newspaper reports La Nacion. Milei's austerity measures, who have been Argentina's president since December 2023, are already taking effect. Again Mirror reports, some faculties have already had to introduce cost-cutting measures, such as shorter library opening times, reduced lighting in common areas and limited use of the lifts. These savings are the results of the “shock therapy” announced by Milei, with which the regent wants to counteract inflation by reducing government spending.
The fact that money for education is affected is particularly resentful in Argentina. The education system is considered one of the best in Latin America. “Public education is a tool for social change. It gives individuals the opportunity to develop, contribute to society and shape their future,” Ivan Massari, a biology and genetics lecturer at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, told the daily News. Free education must be defended, said Massari. The 82-year-old alumnus and architect Pedro Palm also takes to the streets for his former educational institution: “I am here to defend public universities.”
Mileli government wants to appease protests in Argentina
The demonstrations were called by independent universities, trade unions, student organizations and opposition parties. With his radical reform course, President Milei wants to confront the state's excessive indebtedness and the current crisis.
With success: For the first time in 16 years, he generated a budget surplus, but experts doubt that this is not sustainable. Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni tries to reassure: “Education is one of the cornerstones of our ideology. We have no intention of closing the universities.”
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