Dozens of primary and secondary teachers from the ten municipalities of León have abandoned their jobs to migrate illegally to the United States, including a Sandinista teacher who was two months away from retirement.
Last month, the primary school teacher Melva Campos Flores decided to leave the teaching profession and go to the North American country. Campos was a well-known Sandinista militant in that municipality and she worked as president at polling stations for both the past municipal and presidential elections, as well as the most recent ones.
The Sandinista teacher had been a teacher for more than 30 years, the last school where she taught was at the San José de Apante school, in Telica-León. 20 years ago, she stood out as one of the best primary school teachers in that municipality.
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“Melva longed to retire and withdraw at the right time, as she said, we are amazed at her decision to abandon her students and leave the country,” said a colleague from Campos, who, fearing that the Ministry of Education retaliate requested anonymity.
others follow
Accompanying Campos, other elementary school teachers who taught in communities in the municipality of Telica crossed the border between the United States and Mexico. According to the source, the decision that the teachers are making sends a message to the other teachers that it is not worth so much effort to reach retirement.
“Not only are the teachers leaving their jobs, there were also two vacancies in the administrative area of the Ministry of Education when a teacher and the director of a school here went north,” says a teacher from the municipality of Telica.
In order to obtain a place upon graduating from the Darwin Vallecillo Normal School Quintanilla, located in the department of Chinandega, the applicants had to work faithfully at the polling stations; situation that led teachers to become involved in party activities of the Sandinista Front, FSLN, since November 2011.
During that year’s elections, teachers received royalties for working in the Vote Receiving Boards (JRV) located in each educational center. The teachers who have decided to leave the classroom are the same ones who were seen working at the polling stations as president, members and prosecutors. Others were in charge of monitoring and communicating to the political secretary how the situation was progressing.
“They were always trained to make the electoral circus work, that is, the teachers are the state workers most involved in the farce. In 2011, the teacher who held the position of president of the polling station in the elections was paid with a cow from the social programs maintained by the regime”, explains the sociologist Alberto Ruiz.
The involvement of teachers in partisan activities is considered an abuse of public resources. More when the only ruling party in the country, trains them so that they control even the ordinary and extraordinary local councils.
High teacher desertion
It is known that several primary and secondary schools in rural communities in the department of León are without teachers.
For Ruiz, the setback in the educational system will worsen now that experienced teachers are leaving for the United States. “Now, those who occupy these positions do not have a vocation, nor the educational skills required in that discipline,” criticizes Ruiz.
The Plaza de Campos and other teachers have already been occupied by Sandinista militants. It is known that in January 2023, another group of community teachers from the municipalities of León will leave for the United States.
The high dropout rate of senior teachers is a matter of great concern for parents. For its part, the Ministry of Education is silent about this harsh reality.
