He Central Board of Directors (Codicen) of the National Public Education Administration (ANEP) held this Tuesday a meeting with the education and IAVA unions to find a way out of the conflict that broke out after the investigation and dismissal of the director of that center, Leonardo Ruidíaz.
The IAVA teachers called a strike this Tuesday that will last until 1:00 p.m. this Wednesday, when they will have an assembly to define the steps to follow and if they extend the union measure.
At the meeting, the union leaders presented to the education authorities a series of measures, some of them “non-negotiable”according to what the leader of the National Federation of Secondary Education Teachers (Fenapes), Emiliano Mandacen, said at a press conference.
“There are two non-negotiable elements: that the director of the IAVA return and the cessation of the investigation of teachers” of that same institution, said the leader.
On the points raised as “non-negotiable” by Fenapes, the president of the Codicen, Robert Silva, expressed at a press conference that “There are powers that are specific to the Codex and others of the General Directorate of Secondary” and that the law “establishes what each one must do”. The general director of Secondary, Jenifer Cherro, did not participate in the meeting.
This Wednesday the Codex will meet to evaluate these and the other requests from Fenapes, including the repair of the IAVA elevator, one of the triggers for the conflict. As announced by Silva, the General Directorate of Secondary Education will undertake to fix the elevator.
The authorities’ plan is to place the ramp for the entry of people with disabilities in front of the corridor where today the student union hall works.
Currently there is already a ramp for another entrance, but, as Silva explained, the ANEP architects told him that it is not the best entrance, “Where the ramp is today is not what it corresponds to”.
With the elevator fixed and “the dignified side entrance, access to the laboratories would be allowed” for students with disabilities, Silva said. The president of the Codicen acknowledged that he does not agree that “it takes so long” to fix the elevator, which has been in disuse for five years.
Another claim by Fenapes was to review the current ordinances, such as the one that served as protection to sum up and remove Ruidíaz from office. “There are ordinances that are old for being from the time of the dictatorship,” said Mandacen and assured that the education authorities promised to review them “immediately”.
Silva, however, avoided answering if they will be reviewed and pointed out that they date from 1979 and are still in force. “Several governments passed and the permanent resolution continues,” said the president of the Codicen.
Fenapes also assured that it will deliver a cap with the alleged irregularities that he understands were committed by the Secondary School in the management of the high school.
