Chile's protests fueled by college costs

Eduardo Zepeda is a 23-year-old engineering student attending a state university in Chile. His parents lay out the equivalent of 540 euros a month for his education: 390 euros goes to the university, and 150 euros to the bank that is lending them the money. Eduardo's education is costing this typical middle class family around 20 percent of their income.

"We're finding it difficult now, but it will be much harder when my four sisters start university. I have friends who are seriously in debt," says Eduardo. Some families are paying up to 50 percent of their earnings on their children's education.

Eduardo's case typifies the crisis in Chile's education system, a crisis that has prompted thousands of students to take to the streets; they have been joined by teaching staff who have held strikes, calling on the government to introduce major structural reform to a system that was set up during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in the 1980s. Opinion polls show that up to 80 percent of the population supports the students in their campaign. They want to know why a country which is registering GDP growth of six percent a year cannot afford a better education system.

There is widespread agreement on the reasons for the state of Chile's education system. State universities are chronically under-funded, while private entities are largely exempt from taxes and are very expensive. High schools depend on funding from their local authority, and many in poorer areas are under-resourced, with low academic standards.

Chile's state universities are the most expensive in Latin America: they are 19 times more costly to attend than French colleges, and four times more expensive than those in Spain. What's more, there has been a four-fold increase in the number of students since 1990, with almost one million attending university. But attendance among the poorest 10 percent is 16 percent, while among the wealthiest 10 percent it is 61 percent.

The students are demanding the right to free public education for all. The government is offering to reduce interest rates on loans to students, and to increase the number of grants, which would mean that 60 percent of students from low-income families would receive help. President Sebastián Piñera has also promised to crack down on private universities that are making money in contravention of their statute.

Chile has been hit by a range of protests this winter, and Piñera has been accused of high-handedness and failing to listen. His popularity has hit rock-bottom in opinion polls, and he has responded by saying he understands "the essence" of what the students are asking, adding: "We need to make great strides in education." At the same time, he accused them of "thinking only of themselves."

In an interview with leading daily El Mercurio, Piñera said: "I would like to remind [the students] that they are important to Chilean society, but there are also other important sectors with urgent needs.

"We are dealing with a generation that is much more demanding with government than before. The students give the impression that they think we can solve Chile's longstanding problems overnight," he said.