Peru’s Executive and regional governments have reached an agreement over a contentious new education law that would have prohibited public schools from hiring teachers who did not finish in the top third of their class while at University or an academic institute.
Cabinet Chief Jorge Del Castillo and Education Minister José Antonio Chang reached the agreement on Tuesday during a meeting with 20 regional presidents, Radio Programas radio reported. Del Castillo said the agreement will establish a general exam on March 9 for some 180,000 teachers applying for 23,970 public teaching positions. Del Castillo said applicants who achieve a grade of 14 or better, out of 20, on the exam will qualify for the positions.
The education law sparked heated rhetoric last week after most of the country’s regional presidents said it was unconstitutional and discriminatory. Chang responded by threatening to file criminal charges against the presidents if they failed to implement the law, which he argued would help improve Peru’s ailing public school system.
The president of Lambayeque Department and coordinator of the National Assembly of Regional Presidents, Yehude Simon, reportedly said there are neither winners nor losers in the agreement. “In the most positive way they have addressed the demands of regional presidents,” Agencia Andina reported Simon saying. “It is now in the past. What is important is that regional governments and the Executive are on the same path.”
