The national president of the Federation of University Students of Ecuador (FEUE), Mauricio Chiluiza, told the Sputnik Agency that they will go out to protest in the streets if the Government cuts the budget for health and education for 2023.
“In the coming weeks, as a result of the budget proposal being sent, and if there is a budget reduction, we will take to the streets,” the student leader told this agency.
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Chiluiza specified that on October 7, the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, presented a partial veto to the Incremental Budget Law for Health and Education, approved in the National Assembly (unicameral parliament) with 97 votes in favor.
The alert is based, he said, on the Government’s tendency to reduce the budget, which it has made public, and also on the fact that in the coming weeks the Executive must send the Legislative the budget proforma for next year.
“In just one year of the Government of Guillermo Lasso, US$80 million have been reduced, which affects universities and polytechnic schools, as well as the expansion of the academic offer, the strengthening of infrastructure, as well as the hiring of new teachers,” he indicated.
The student leader explained that all of this is aimed mainly at weakening the public university and recalled that the State made commitments with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“From the FEUE we call on the National Assembly to ratify the initial proposal, where this law legally prohibits the Ministry of Finance from cutting the budget for Higher Education,” he urged.
He specified that the text of the project also prevents the reduction of the budget allocated to initial education and high school, and to health and catastrophic illnesses.
“We are waiting, but the government’s intentions have already been seen, publicly, to reduce the budget for universities, and right now we are in assemblies preparing actions to fight,” he assured.
He specified that the assemblies are held in the public universities of the country with the participation of the largest number of students, and they have also had approaches with the Federation of University Professors and the Federation of University Servants, who are concerned about the possible cut.
The FEUE is made up of students enrolled in public education, distributed in some 14 university branches in the country.
With information from Sputnik