1/8 By 1/8 Balsa Wood

educational freedom and the new Education Act

Known text promulgated the Organic Law of Education , arise following comments:

1) enshrines the concept of the state teacher supply is not constitutional, because the condition of inescapable role of the state and public service, ascribed to the Constitution to education, are not to conclude for themselves to teaching as such is only the State, precisely to ensure that education is interpreted as a state exclusive jurisdiction, and that the State did not use the education system to print to certain dominant thinking education, which undermines the right of parents to decide on the education of their children and allow only the state uniquely determine the orientation of educational material.

2) In addition, education is stated as "secular", when the constitutional text only qualify as democratic, free and compulsory, and as well for freedom religion and worship, the right to profess a religious faith involves the right to teach, and therefore is constitutionally recognized parents the right to have their children receive religious education in the schools where they are educated.

3) Set the new law regulating education is based on the doctrine of freedom and Simon Rodriguez, who aside thoughts that are only linked to a time and a historical culture, can be interpreted in one ideological or political meaning, to the detriment of the principle of educational freedom, because political management that has made her work and the identification of these doctrines with the creed of the ruling party. For example, within the aims of education set out to form "new Republicans and new Republican" who are so vague and generic concepts that support a single interpretation on what is meant by such concepts. And others, training citizen must be under a "geographic and historical approach" and a part of "a new endogenous production model." That, plus it is not doctrine or the Simon Bolivar and Rodriguez, are also indeterminate concepts, ambiguous, imprecise and exclusive and identified with use has made them the official ideology. And in general, establishing the new Act that the educational process should be directed in the sense that happiness is achieved through an inclusive socio-economic structure and a new production model social, humanist, endogenous, it affects education in a single economic and ideological orientation, which goes against freedom educational and academic.

4) Declaring that education is secular, and punishable with severe penalties to the violation of the principles of law reviews, including the closure of educational establishments, the inclusion of religion in the curriculum of study could be labeled as contrary to the principles of the Act and therefore would result in such penalties under the Act , despite recognizing the right parents that their children are given religious instruction in schools.

5) are created to the existing structures in schools and universities, educational and popular councils, student councils, etc., Which weaken the parent-teacher associations, or university and faculty councils or school or student centers, to incorporate community organizations outside the existing structures of the international educational community. This decision compromises the freedom of teachers and parents, and of course the university autonomy and allows the interference of external factors in schools. School management in these centers could be controlled from outside by the interference of such factors in the organization and management of educational communities.

6) The new law extreme supervision and control over the educational community and primarily on private institutions. For example, monitoring committees could be created "ad hoc" of schools. Already President has announced, which means the creation of "educational commissioners" for the control of education.

7) A fourth (quarter) of Act, whose purpose is the development of the educational system is, however, with the creation of punitive administrative violations in transitional arrangements, virtually on teachers, students and representatives, and even on social media.

8) Within sanctions enshrines greater discretion to qualify generic faults. For example, the closing or reorganization of private educational institutions if the competent Ministry of Education, believes that they undermine the principles established in the Constitution in Organic Law of Education (eg, against the doctrine Simon Bolivar and Rodriguez), in which case the owners, principals or teachers are punished with disqualification for ten years for the performance of teaching or administrative positions in any stock. This penalty is disproportionate to the right to work, especially when there are no objective criteria to determine the application of the sanction.

9) The law allows more discretion to the Executive to fully delegate the regulation of its principles (social responsibility and solidarity), the regulatory regime institutional assessment of educational institutions, the school system's basic education system, the transitional arrangements for admission and promotion in teaching, among other subjects. It also goes against the legal reserve as on sanctions applicable to staff members is delegated to the executive regulation rules para aplicar las sanciones y para tramitar los recursos correspondientes, así como lo relativo a la gradación de las sanciones, los órganos que las aplicarán y los recursos que podrán ser ejercidos por los interesados.

10) La Ley considera integrantes de la comunidad universitaria además de los profesores y estudiantes, al personal administrativo y obrero y a los egresados, dándoles igualdad en el voto para elegir las autoridades universitarias, contrariando la Constitución. Se desconoce que la igualdad en el voto se da entre iguales y no entre desiguales, y que en los casos de órganos mixtos el principio is not the equality of the vote but the proportionality between the different sectors. Just as teachers do not vote for union leaders, not the staff or workers can vote to choose the university government. And about the student vote is proportional, since there is not equal to teachers, because those are students and their teachers. And in relation to the graduates they are not assets, because they left the University and only their part to be represented. The co-governance does not, in joint bodies, equality of the vote, but proportionality and representation.

11) The new law contradicts the principle of university autonomy which provides that the relevant rules on admission of students is determined by the special law on higher education and not by the universities themselves and attributing to the competent national bodies in education in an exclusive manner the entry of students into tertiary education institutions and private national and attributed to the special law and university policy not to intellectual creation and graduate programs higher education and the evaluation and accreditation of members university community, among other matters within its autonomy. And equally, when one considers that the competent national bodies in education and will govern the control of university governance rules concerning the exercise of political rights for the election of this government.

12) Academic freedom is defined only in respect of methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives, but omitted to include self-critical and free thinking and expression, although under the new law are guiding principles of education.

13) The establishment within the education sub-unit training for the knowledge, understanding, use and critical analysis of content of media , suggests that seeks to promote education as a general principle a bias against the existence of independent media and that they generally act to misinform.

Y;

14) In a period of one year are issued special laws on matters covered by Organic Law of Education (educational community, the student organization, basic education subsystem from the level of education up to the middle school , subsystem of higher education, bans on partisan propaganda in the educational institutions, teacher training and teaching career), and as from the promulgation of the new Act was repealed entirely len Education Law before 1980, without transient application available, there is serious doubt whether those issued pending special laws or not such matters are left to regulation by the Executive.

The defense of freedom of education imposes the reporting of constitutional violations Organic Law of Education and civic organization to institutionalize its rejection.

Román J. Duque Corredor

President of the Academy Political and Social Science.