Nicaraguan Teacher’s Day is commemorated on June 29 in the midst of an academic crisis —according to teachers— due to the politicization promoted by the Daniel Ortega regime and the subjugation it exerts on teachers in the country.
Professor and former political prisoner Gabriel Putoy, currently in exile in Costa Rica and a member of the Teachers’ Union Unit (USM), told Article 66 that this is a day of great sadness because the death of the Niquinohomo teacher Erick López, assassinated during the social protests in 2018, is remembered.
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He added that memory is also made of 91 teachers who died due to the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 “due to the irresponsibility of the government that forced them to teach without any type of sanitary measures.”
“We also remember the 150 fired teachers, applying to them article 32, subsection four of Law 114, the Teaching Career Law, where they (the regime) question the behavior of the teachers, when we know that all the teachers have emphasized good behavior,” he said.
Another of the situations that Putoy denounced is that “thousands” of teachers have been removed from schools because they do not abide by the partisan language promoted by the Ortega dictatorship. “Teachers are pressured to submit to the interests of the Ortega regime,” he noted.
Forced to “say yes to everything”
For her part, a teacher, a member of the Union Unit of Democratic Teachers of Nicaragua, stated on condition of anonymity that there is nothing to celebrate this day, because “as teachers we are in mourning because we cannot express what we feel, we must to say yes to everything.
«It is sad what we teachers live for not losing our job; They force us to do things we don’t want to do. We receive daily messages from different parts of Nicaragua informing what each teacher is going through », he denounced.
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He also emphasized that many teachers are “humiliated” by others who align themselves with the interests of the Ortega dictatorship. “There are many teachers who want to resign, but they have to wait six months to a year for the settlement,” he also indicated that the teachers who were fired in 2018 have not been paid the settlement.
“Deceived with a bonus of 800 córdobas”
On the other hand, Professor Putoy mentioned the bonus that the Ortega regime gave teachers on June 28 on the occasion of Teacher’s Day. “In principle, it is a bond of social vindication of democratic governments and not a royalty from the current government,” he stressed.
“But this voucher does not cover even two days for the teachers’ food. Before 2007 the bonus was 500 cordobas, but the cost of food was lower, but after 15 years it has only increased to 300 cordobas and the cost of living is higher.
“Ortega is not a defender of the poor or a defender of teachers, rather he has been an executioner of the union and they have counted on the silence of the union of the National Association of Educators of Nicaragua (ANDEN) because it has not spoken out in favor of the teachers”, putoy lambasted.
As for party manipulation, another teacher from the Nicaraguan Democratic Teachers Union Unit affirmed that the teachers were forced to take photos when they were given the 800 córdobas bonus “for evidence and then upload it to the Mined page. ».
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In relation to the celebration of Teacher’s Day, this communication medium learned that the Ministry of Education prohibited the celebration of its special date, and that “it was left to the option of the students or parents if they made a celebration for them.”
“Before they celebrated their day for teachers, they took them somewhere, now that is over, because for the government it is a normal day, everything has been lost due to government orders,” explained a teacher who preferred to omit her name.
To date, there are 173 exiled teachers due to the persecution they suffer at the hands of the Ortega regime. Many academics have stated that the “quality of education is on the ground, because there is no motivation to teach ethically.”
