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Teachers protest new law in Peru - Merchants in Lima complain

(LIP-ir) -- The Jirón de La Unión and Downtown Lima Merchants Association has officially announced that it is against the protest being organized by the SUTEP teachers' union for Tuesday February 19.

In protest of a new teachers' law, SUTEP has announced it will march to Peru's Congress building in downtown Lima.

Merchants that have businesses in the area have stated that their businesses will lose a total of 25 million soles because they will not be able to sell their products.

Shop owners have stated that this time of year is especially important because they are in the middle of "Back to School" campaigns.

"Downtown Lima is one of the most important commercial points and it is constantly affected by these types of protests", said Edmundo Calderon, president of the Merchants Association.

Calderon explained that shop owners would have to close their stores for safety reasons, stating that what might happen in the massive protest was unpredictable.

"Man hours are lost and even traffic is affected. It's always the same story", said Calderon.

He explained that 57,000 merchants in 5,200 shops would be affected by the protest on Tuesday.

SUTEP teachers' union has organized a march in protest of a new teachers' law that requires new public school teachers to have graduated in the top third of their university or institute class.

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# jb says :
18 February, 2008 [ 16:59 ]

SUTEP is against anything that will improve education. I believe the new teacher's "law" should have one more provision. If you do not have a university degree etc., then you should be required to submit to and pass a minimum competency exam -- but only for teachers currently employed.  New incoming teachers would be required to hold a university degree etc.  This add'l provision would allow competent teachers without a degree to remain on the job.  However, I am quite sure that SUTEP would object to this too because I'm sure that a good percentage wouldn't pass minimum competency examinations.

# lostraider says :
18 February, 2008 [ 22:24 ]

I changed the font size !

I think hiring teachers that have graduated in the top third of their class is an admirable goal for the hiring of future teachers but would be unjust to those who have already been employed, I agree with a realistic competency exam as well as state funded continuation training on subjects the teacher instructs and on improving teaching methods. and obviously the teacher would have to pass the competency exam before being eligble for continued education in their field of expertise. The first exam  would be at the end of December and have a retake at the end of January, this would allow teachers to play catch up and also give the schools time to hire more teachers before the next school year. All new hires would need to pass the exam as condition of emplyment.