The State remains in debt to university students because it does not guarantee quality education
On November 21, University Student Day was commemorated in Venezuela, but activists assume that there is little they have to celebrate before the precarious conditions in which they study in public institutions and in the face of the sectoral crisis that has affected the country for more than a decade due to the State.
This was expressed by the general director of LIDDES, Laura Linares, who compared the current conditions of university students with those that shielded the spirit of those who on November 21, 1957, before the dictatorship of Pérez Jiménez, expressed their desire to recover democracy. . More than similar, worse than the last century.
The Venezuelan State is in debt
«It is admirable that there are university students committed to studying to rebuild and fight for democracy in Venezuela, because in the midst of the economic crisis, absence of public services, inflation that does not end and disrespect for human rights; Unfortunately, the Venezuelan State is indebted to the students, since it violates their right to free and quality education every time it does not guarantee decent salaries to workers and university professors, it does not guarantee scholarships appropriate to the needs of the students, it “disrespect for academic freedom,” he emphasized.
In addition, thousands of young Venezuelan university students have been forced to give up their academic goals due to having to migrate to meet their needs and help their families. Today the majority of students do not have access to cafeterias, transportation or financial aid.
“Today the State financially harasses university studies houses, intimidates and arbitrarily detains professors and students,” he lashed out.
Studying has become an act of resistance
For his part, the general coordinator of the Team10 Student Movement, José Varela, described it as an act of resistance that there are still young people studying in higher education institutions in Venezuela.
«We young people continue to support training as the most effective way to guarantee a better future. We students will continue to fight to guarantee access to university education, it is a duty given the situation that students are experiencing in which 96% of those who study at public universities do not have a dining room and 90% do not have a cafeteria. “They do not have access to scholarships.”
In this sense, he stressed that the study houses have not given in and remain open, “despite the budgetary suffocation and the repeated attacks on university autonomy by a State that does not guarantee fundamental rights.”
He asserted that they will continue to resist, pushing for the restitution of the rule of law, fighting for the redemocratization of the country and the freedom of all citizens.
“Those of us who have the university as a life project will continue doing activities of all kinds to give life to our second home, which is the university.”
Today, November 21, we celebrate University Student Day, but in Venezuela, this day reflects the daily struggle of thousands of young people to access quality education.#StudentsWithVzla pic.twitter.com/oWggGPfX6O
— Vente Joven (@VenteJoven) November 21, 2024
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