THE REACTIONARY RESTRUCTURING OF EDUCATION

Peru has turned into a new laboratory for low intensity warfare led by the sinister CIA and its puppets in the National Intelligence Services (SIN) and the genocidal armed forces of this obsolete and rotten State.

In the context of the counterrevolutionary war that they develop, they are trying to defend and restructure, to suit the interests of the imperialist bourgeoisie, mainly Yankee, and what constitutes their center of ideological and political rule.

Part of the reactionary restructuring of the bureaucratic State, which by way of genocide, is attempting to perpetuate a society that has reached a dead end, and whose crisis is total and terminal, is decomposing, as shown by the sharpening of the crisis at all levels of official education. In its obsolete schemes at the various degrees of education, we see that primary education provides a type of knowledge that is divorced from reality, and alien to the real needs of workers in our nation. Secondary education has become useless, and it is not even helpful anymore to be admitted to the universities nor to join the stream of gainfully employed by providing any marketable skills. That is why, precisely so many costly preparation "academies" (more than 500) have proliferated, trying to prepare students to be admitted to the universities, offering such things as "accelerated courses"in computers, and many other subjects.

University education with its feudal coat tails, upholds the separation between manual labor and intellectual labor that is the "laboral and technical professions," that meet the economic and other needs of the ruling class, interested in training managers, accountants, lawyers, etc., who will work adequately to exploit and sack the working people savagely.

Facing this political, economic and social problem of its educational system, the solutions that the old State proposes are limited to that context and so it is enacting a "New General Educational Law," a "New University Law" and a "Law Promoting the Privatization of Education," which are worn out formulas that have been tried and retried during the 175 years of republican history. These have resulted in failure, and will result in failure again, and therefore deepen the crisis.

This genocidal and sellout dictatorship proposes the complete privatization of the educational system, which simply means more hunger, unemployment, suffering and misery for the working people. The mechanism used is the "Law Promoting the Privatization of Education," and thus, tests various models of privatization implemented by their servile lackeys, creating community educational centers managed by "promoters of education," pilot secondary schools under the administration of a "General Director" who will manage his or her "private resources,"and who will "hire or fire personnel at will." All of them are apprentices of genocide and they are eager to suck with their voracious appetite the blood, swat, and tears of our people.

Nowadays, they aim at the reactionary restructuring of the educational system at all levels:

• 1. The liberal and reactionary 1993 Constitution did away for good with "free education" in the Public Universities (Art. 17) and subsidized private education in all its forms.
• 2. The nefarious "Reorganization Law" is the completion of the militarization and fascistization of the universities by violating their basic principles, vindications, and demoliberal institutions.
• 3. The free character of the education is eliminated, and sacking and theft was imposed through the collection of "registration and learning fees," elimination of partial free tuition (for flunked or incomplete courses) and total exempt registration (for seniority, on the sixth year.) [TNF: those were conquests or benefits won by the struggle of the student movement]
• 4. The bullying and terrorizing the University youth has taken place by way of arbitrary disciplinary separations, and expulsion, such as what occurred at the University of San Marcos where eight students were expelled and 30 others were processed for removal. All of these actions were taken in retaliation of the students' just and correct demands against the military occupation and reactionary educational policies.
• 5. Replacing the University Assembly by a President of a so-called "Reorganizing Commission," thus, doing away with co-government (one-third students a.k.a. student government), freedom of assistance, and the right to tenure by the faculty.

These measures were imposed to meet the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in order to pay the foreign debt, and to expand the tax collection base. To this end, they have outlined the need for "Private Investments in Education," ruling that those private educational centers and 'academies' that may show a profit, must pay an income tax, a stiff 30% of the profit. Thus, in this manner the petty bourgeoisie sectors have been hit once more.

What does the reactionary restructuring mean to the people?

The crisis in primary and secondary education, generates more unemployment, more poverty, a greater sacking and exploitation of the meager resources of the people, raising the cost of getting an education, which increases the widespread drop out rate and overall illiteracy in the country.

In centers of "higher studies" and in the universities it means further militarization. The educational policy of the regime results in more genocide, more disappearances (as in la Cantuta University, Huancayo University -UNCP-, and others.) Many students face threats for repression (E.g., summary expelling and separations of students at the National Engineering University - UNI-, San Marcos, etc.), massive academic desertion (due to high tuition costs and loss of "partial tuition" credit, refunds, for flunked out or incomplete courses, and requirements' policies for up-front total payments for "registration and learning fees"), elitization due to the high cost of admission fees, and the creation of "pre-university centers." In San Marcos University alone, this has caused fourteen hundred unfilled vacancies.

What have they achieved by putting in effect their sinister and obsolete reactionary plans?

They are deepening the crisis and they are showing that the new bureaucratic structures they have created are still more corrupt, immoral and criminal than the old ones they have replaced. In the face of this situation, the student movement has raised its just and rightful protests (marches, demonstrations, occupation of buildings, etc.), joined by faculty and workers involved in stoppages, strikes, and demonstrations. They are raising the level of their overall organization, unity, and discipline to defend their vindications. They are raising their level of combativity and conscience by airing their claims, demanding and defending their right to education, and incorporating themselves massively to the vibrant and victorious People's War. This offers the only luminous and correct way out, by sweeping off the old economic structure and the unjust educational superstructure. Thus, a new culture and a new educational system is therefore created, materializing the " People's Republic of Peru" as part of the World Revolution that shall install luminous Communism.

Let us take this opportunity to celebrate with the cheerfulness of the class, the 68th Anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Peru (PCP), which is leading the victorious People's War guided by the undefeated and unbendable ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought, mainly Gonzalo Thought, that is the creative application of Maoism to our reality.

Finally, we also greet our heroic people of Peru, immersed in their daily struggles for their children's bread, for land for those who till it, for education to clarify the minds and enliven consciences, and for liberation from three mountains of oppression: Semifeudalism, bureaucratic capitalism, and imperialism (mainly Yankee imperialism).