Road chaos in Vallarta due to a teacher demonstration

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Members of the National Coordinator of Workers of the Education performed for the first time, a massive protest, here

For the first time since the teachers' movement of resistance against the so-called education reform started, dissenting teachers of Puerto Vallarta marched en masse, generating strong traffic chaos for nearly three hours.

Yesterday, more than 2 thousand 500 teachers marched to Plaza Marina Square in front of City Hall in the city center, on the Boulevard Francisco Medina Ascencio, causing traffic and inconvenience to merchants, drivers and some tourists who arrived in a cruise.

Dissenting teachers, belonging to the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), would gather in front of the OXXO of the airport but finally to "not affect tourism" they decided to assemble in front of Plaza Marina. To the detachment were added other groups of teachers from different schools along several avenues leading to the Medina Ascencio like the Politécnico, Fluvial Vallarta and the Bypass.

In this way, said the local teachers that are unhappy with the new education laws, they are adding to the national movement of "peaceful civil disobedience" to which the magisterial leaders have convoked. They say that the new laws harm them because it affects their labor, their age, their durability in their jobs, and their job security, among other things.

AGAINST SELF-MANAGEMENT
Some teachers said that it is not true that they are against the assessment as stated in some media, but against the fact that it is a punitive assessment tending to layoffs without recognizing their seniority, others mentioned that they require training in order to deal more effectively with the evaluations, as so far they only get "light courses", according to their statements.

The dissenting teachers noted that educational authorities should also be assessed, they said that first they should correct their own errors before attempting to evaluate the teachers; as an example they mentioned the errors found in the free textbooks of this school year.

Furthermore, with the aim of adding mothers and fathers to their cause, the teachers assured that with the Education Reform, parents will have to pay the expenses incurred on school grounds, by way of mandatory fees; they said that the parents will have to pay all school services and maintenance.

When they reached City Hall, the teachers had a brief rally in which they defended their arguments and asked the public to be informed and join their dissent, with the intention that the federal government "reverses and abolishes the new education laws".

[readon1 url="http://vallartaopina.net/2013/09/26/caos-vial-en-vallarta-por-la-manifestacion-de-maestros"]Source: Vallarta Opina Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]