Education
Austerity – Over half a million Argentines protest
Many people called for financial support for state colleges and universities in Argentina. photo
© Cristina Sille/dpa
Argentine educational institutes are considered among others to be the best in South America – the public universities are currently free. In Buenos Aires alone, 500,000 people took to the streets.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Argentina against cuts to the higher education sector. According to the University of Berlin, protests took place in the capital alone Buenos Aires over 500,000 demonstrators against the strict austerity measures of the ultra-liberal government of President Javier Milei.
“We defend the public, free and free university, which is one of the great achievements of our people and which we will not give up,” said Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel at the central rally in front of the government headquarters Casa Rosada. “We defend our right to a life with dignity.”
Education in Argentina is considered one of the best in Latin America. Studying in public universities is free, and many young people from other countries in the region also come to study in the South American country. As part of its austerity policy, the Argentine government recently cut the budget of public universities by 71 percent. If the funds are not increased, the University of Buenos Aires, for example, could no longer pay employees’ salaries from the middle of the year, the newspaper “La Nación” reported.
Argentina has been in a severe economic crisis for years. The ultra-liberal President Milei has imposed tough austerity measures on the country, cutting thousands of public sector jobs, cutting subsidies and dismantling social programs. Yesterday he announced the first quarterly budget surplus in over 15 years. However, critics complain that the government is plunging many people into poverty and is putting the future of the country at risk with cuts to the education sector, for example.