Head of State: “Today we’re bringing civic education back into our schools”
This morning, in the Salón Montt Varas of La Moneda Palace, President Michelle Bachelet, accompanied by the Minister of Education, Adriana Delpiano, enacted the law that creates the Civic Education Plan for accredited establishments, which establishes that the Ministry of Education must incorporate civic education at the pre-school, primary and secondary levels, in a way that is appropriate for the particular characteristics of each level and context.
The initiative emerged in the face of growing political discontent, a systematic drop in the credibility of political institutions, reduced political participation in cooperative community spaces, and the recommendation of the President’s Advisory Council against conflicts of interest, influence peddling, and corruption, which in its final report indicated that ‘preventing and reducing the frequency of acts of corruption and misconduct requires an educational system that instills citizens with the civic values of respectful coexistence and the promotion of the common good.’
During the ceremony, the President highlighted the importance of this Law, stating, “for many years, this aspect of Chilean education has been relegated to the sidelines. Today, we are correcting that mistake.”
Continuing, she emphasized that “we are celebrating some good news: we celebrate the fact that we are continuing to strengthen our decision to offer comprehensive, high quality education that seeks to build both individual and collective capacities. We celebrate the fact that our children and youth will reap the benefits in knowledge, tools and core values for social harmony and democratic life. And today we are bringing civic education back to our schools.”
The President specified that this legal initiative allows each school or school board to freely establish the content of its Civic Education Plan, which will be made public, will be unveiled at the start of each school year, and will be improved in consultation with the Ministry. The plans will be formulated in accordance with the curricular frameworks approved by the National Council of Education.
For its part, the Ministry of Education will accompany and support educational establishments that request it throughout the process, and shall make available to the school system curricular guidelines, model plans and educational resources in order to facilitate the plans’ implementation. Additionally, within the framework of its authority, it will work to incorporate citizen training and civic education in initial teacher education. It will also work towards creating, no later than 2017, a core course on Civic Education for the third and fourth years of secondary school.
At the event, President Michelle Bachelet indicated that this new law seeks to value and safeguard democracy, human rights, transparency and public integrity. At the same time, she noted that citizens will no longer tolerate bad practices and corruption, and for this reason her administration has advanced initiatives like this Law and the Agenda of Transparency, Integrity and Anticorruption in politics and in business.
She underlined the importance of this educational plan in this context, explaining that, “not everything is resolved with laws, integrity is a personal ethical orientation, and part of a country’s civic culture. And that is the point of civic education. It is a slow process and we will need to be persistent, but it is the firm root of healthier, more dignified coexistence.”
Lastly, the President underlined that “instruction in civic ethics shows us that we are not isolated individuals, motivated solely by private interest; we are part of a great nation that is built upon the rights and obligations of all, with the participation and interest of all, one in which we are all able to form relationships based on respect, solidarity and cooperation.”