VZCZCXYZ0028
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPE #0667/01 0652009
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 062009Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4250
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 4413
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7236
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0206
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR QUITO 1051
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1144
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS LIMA 000667 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PE
SUBJECT: TEACHER'S UNION TAKES IT ON THE CHIN OVER TEST 
RESULTS 
 
REF: A. LIMA 33 
     ¶B. LIMA 167 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified. Please handle accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Minister of Education Jose Antonio Chang on 
February 23 announced the results of a nationwide teacher 
examination held in January: almost 50 percent of public 
school teachers were unable to answer simple questions about 
mathematics, and more than 30 percent were functionally 
illiterate.  The radical teacher's union SUTEP (the United 
Syndicate of Educational Workers) initially questioned the 
results, but in the face of overwhelming public criticism, 
issued an apology for the same.  The mea culpa handed the 
Garcia administration a decisive win in an ongoing struggle 
to implement a meaningful program of educational reform.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Minister Change announced on February 23 that more 
than 192,000 public school teachers had undergone 
standardized testing in January.  Forty-seven percent of 
those tested were unable to solve simple math equations, and 
33 percent were unable to read at a basic level.  Less than 
two percent were able to pass all three levels of the test in 
both reading and mathematics.  Primary school teachers and 
those working in rural areas received the lowest scores. 
Chang called the results "immoral." 
 
¶3. (U) In response, SUTEP came out swinging: Secretary 
General Caridad Montes said the government had administered 
the tests unfairly, and she threatened to follow through with 
plans for a nationwide strike to disrupt the opening of 
school March 1.  Montes' remarks echoed a February 5 
interview she held with Poloff, in which she blamed the 
government for failing to fund schools properly and accused 
Chang of using the exam as a pretext for firing teachers and 
destroying the union.  She claimed SUTEP represented nearly 
all of Peru's public school teachers, a claim most analysts 
consider widely inflated.  Montes spent January and February 
blasting the administration's reform plans in the press and 
accusing President Garcia of "fascist tendencies."  Peru's 
largest union, the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers 
(CGTP), came out in support of SUTEP, but most unions elected 
to remain on the sidelines, and even CGTP support was tepid. 
 
¶4. (U) A survey by the University of Lima in February showed 
63 percent of those polled disapproved of SUTEP, and an equal 
percentage blamed teachers for the poor state of Peruvian 
education; in contrast, the GOP's education policies received 
a 59 percent approval rating.  The Lima press had a field day 
mocking SUTEP.  In the words of one editorialist, SUTEP was 
the first teacher's union whose members could neither read 
nor add.  On February 27, SUTEP ran up the white flag. 
Olmedo Auris, a senior SUTEP official, publicly apologized to 
parents of school children for the poor test results and said 
that his union had canceled plans for a strike.  Auris 
admitted that SUTEP had misjudged the depth of frustration 
over public education, and he offered to begin a dialogue 
with the government to "commit to improve the quality of 
education" in Peru. 
 
¶5. (U) Chang insisted that the reform process would move 
forward.  The Ministry of Education has presented a bill to 
Congress defining teachers as essential public employees, 
thus legally banning them from striking.  The bill has 
gathered support in the Peruvian Congress and has already 
been approved in committee.  Chang said the educational 
system had failed students for 30 years, and he had no plans 
to meet with SUTEP.  (Comment: Chang canceled a February 22 
meeting with Embassy officials.  Ministry contacts said he 
did not want to meet with the Embassy during a high-profile 
conflict with a left-wing union.  End Comment)  Chang offered 
training to those who had failed the exam, but he warned that 
those who failed three times would be fired. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: SUTEP Secretary General Caridad Montes 
badly misjudged public frustration with public education in 
general and with SUTEP in particular, much of it left over 
after a violent strike in 2003 that caused school to be 
suspended for six weeks.  One obvious indication of 
unhappiness is the fact that 15 percent of Peruvian school 
children, mostly from the middle and upper classes, attend 
private schools.  Senior SUTEP officials are committed to a 
Communist vision of society that leaves no room for political 
pluralism, and the administration could not have moved 
forward with plans for educational reform had it acquiesced 
to SUTEP's demands to end testing (see reftels for an 
analysis of other issues related to education reform).  The 
administration calculated correctly that SUTEP had few 
friends, even within organized labor, and relied on Garcia's 
popularity and his bully pulpit to counter claims of union 
bashing with demands for quality education for all of Peru's 
children, especially the poor.  For the moment, the GOP can 
claim a political victory that has not only bolstered the 
President's popularity but also set the stage for a much 
needed overhaul of a highly politicized union and an outdated 
educational system.  End Comment. 
STRUBLE