VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMN #0709/01 3541750
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191750Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8667
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS MONTEVIDEO 000709 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC MARY DASCHBACH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SOCI ELAB UY
SUBJECT: EDUCATION REFORM LEGISLATION DIVIDES FRENTE 
AMPLIO, BUT PASSES 
 
REF: MONTEVIDEO 667 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  The governing Frente Amplio party (FA; 
"Broad Front") proposed legislation to restructure Uruguay's 
public education system at all levels, seeking to fulfill its 
campaign promise to modernize the system and make it more 
accountable.  The bill was approved in the Chamber of 
Deputies and the Senate.  Teachers, who usually support the 
FA, have been vocal in their opposition because of the 
increased management of the system by the State.  In 
addition, opposition parties have expressed their displeasure 
with the legislation, as well as some within the FA.  The 
Communist Party (PCU) voted against the bill despite a call 
for coalition discipline.  This was the second time within 
two weeks (the first was the abortion bill - reftel) that 
President Tabare Vazquez was challenged from within the FA. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) The FA promised education reform as part of its 
platform during the 2004 presidential campaign, and the 
Vazquez administration has worked to fulfill the pledge ahead 
of the upcoming election cycle.  In March, President Vazquez 
asked outgoing Education Minister Jorge Brovetto to work with 
incoming Minister Maria Simon to finish drafting the bill's 
text.  The legislation is designed to replace the "Emergency 
Law of Education" that was approved in 1985 at the end of the 
military dictatorship. 
 
¶3. (U) The legislation includes the following main points: 
 
a) Modify the Central Directive Council (Codicen) and the 
organizational bodies governed by the National Administration 
of Public Education (ANEP) to include teacher representation. 
 
b) Include consultative commissions made up of students, 
parents and guardians, and officials who are not teachers in 
each education council.  In the Professional Technical 
Education Council (UTU), one or more consultative commission 
will include representatives from businesses and labor. 
 
c) Create three new bodies under the Ministry of Education 
and Culture (MEC): the Coordinator Council for Early 
Childhood Education (0-3 years), the National Institute for 
Informal Education, and the National Institute for Education 
Evaluation.  At the same time, form a Coordinating Commission 
for the National Public Education System, which will 
coordinate ANEP, MEC, and the University of the Republic 
(UDELAR), though it will be a part of MEC. 
 
d) Form a commission with representatives of ANEP and UDELAR 
to draft a proposal for creating a University Institute of 
Education to train teachers, professors, and social educators. 
 
e) Make formal education obligatory for children aged 4 to 
18, with a minimum of 900 hours per year of classroom 
instruction.  NOTE: This increases the classroom requirement; 
in order to comply, schools will either have to increase the 
school day by an hour or add an extra month to each school 
year.  END NOTE. 
 
f) Create a Council of Junior High and Vocational Training 
Education, in order to bridge the division between these 
traditional systems which serve the same age students, 
despite having different curricula. 
 
g) Recognize credits earned at all levels of education in 
order to permit the lateral mobility of students between the 
different school systems. 
 
h) Call for the creation of a National Commission for Human 
Rights Education and a National Commission of Scholarships, 
as well as coordinate a physical education and sports program. 
 
¶4. (U) The education reform bill passed the Chamber of 
Deputies with a vote of 50-19 late on December 1, and was 
presented to the Senate the next day.  The FA leadership 
indicated that it wanted a quick debate on the bill to secure 
its approval prior to the summer recess.  In the Senate, 
despite a committee vote of 4-3 against the bill, the 
legislation arrived at the floor for consideration on 
December 10, where it was approved 16-15.  Protesters in the 
Senate gallery jeered the announcement of the legislation's 
passage and came to blows with security guards attempting to 
restore order. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
LABOR & OPPOSITION BOTH CRITICAL OF LAW 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) As the Chamber of Deputies debated, members of 
teachers unions demonstrated outside the Palacio Legislativo, 
claiming that this legislation betrays FA objectives.  The 
unions claim the law opens the door to privatization of 
education by allowing businesses to intervene in the National 
Commission for Education and the education system as a whole. 
 They also assert that the legislation violates the autonomy 
of ANEP.  Teachers held a 24 hour strike nationally at the 
secondary level and additionally at the primary level in 
Montevideo and Canelones on the day of the vote. 
 
¶6. (U) Evidence of internal fracturing, the FA was not able 
to keep all its coalition parties in line.  The PCU decided 
on November 30 that its members should vote in the negative 
because the bill reduces autonomy of the educational system. 
The PCU,s stance exposed the party to potential sanctions 
from the Frente's Board, including exclusion from the 
political process.  In the face of the FA internal plenary 
congress (December 13-14), however, the FA backed away from 
the imposition of sanctions in this instance, leaving some 
party observers concerned that this could lead to further 
breaking of ranks within the FA over other issues. 
 
¶7. (U) Opposition from the Blanco, Colorado, and Independent 
parties has been just as vocal, but for different reasons; 
they complained that the law institutionalizes the role of 
the unions in management of the education and that they were 
not included in the bill's drafting.  Some opposition members 
have suggested postponing the bill's approval until a broader 
political and social consensus has been reached. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: As with the vetoed legislation to legalize 
abortion (reftel), the internal FA debate over the education 
law demonstrates the coalition's struggle to balance demands 
of its party base with the development of a party platform 
that will be competitive in the upcoming election.  By 
adopting this law, the FA hopes to show it has kept its 
campaign promises.  As the opposition continues to attack 
long-standing problems of quality of education during 
presidential campaign events, indications of progress will be 
increasingly important to the Frente leadership.  END COMMENT. 
Baxter