Teachers oppose a government decentralization plan as a hunger strike enters its sixth day, with two educators withdrawing over health concerns.
Urban teachers across Bolivia launched a 48-hour nationwide strike on Monday, suspending classes and staging demonstrations against a government plan to decentralize education that they warn could undermine public schooling by shifting responsibilities to regional authorities without guaranteeing the necessary funding.
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The strike, scheduled to continue through Tuesday, coincides with a hunger strike that has entered its sixth day. Two teachers from the La Paz federation have already withdrawn after developing health complications from prolonged fasting.
Lorenzo Chávez, executive secretary of the Urban Teachers Federation, said departmental unions had endorsed the mobilization, which includes marches and rallies across the country.
“We are going ahead with the 48-hour strike, including marches and rallies. We remain firm in our struggle and will not take a step back,” Chávez said.
Teachers argue that the government’s proposal would transfer responsibility for education to autonomous departmental governments without guaranteeing funding, school infrastructure or teaching positions. They warn that this could deepen regional inequalities, leaving children’s access to education dependent on the resources available in the department where they live.
Chávez also accused the government of undermining the state’s responsibility to provide free public education, describing the decentralization proposal as a threat to the right to education for Bolivian children and young people.
He recalled that teachers had mobilized under previous administrations, including those led by the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), to defend public education. He said the current proposal threatened that long-standing struggle.
PADRES DE FAMILIA RECHAZAN LA DESCENTRALIZACIÓN DE INSTITUTOS TÉCNICOS Y PIDEN DIÁLOGO PARA EVITAR EL PARO NACIONAL DE PROFESORES pic.twitter.com/55jRDtNzxH
— CTEUB BOLIVIA (@CTEUBolivia) November 6, 2026
Text Reads: Parents reject the decentralization of technical institutes and call for dialogue to avert a national teachers’ strike.
The union also denounced the government’s failure to initiate formal negotiations. Teachers say they have received neither an official letter nor an invitation to meet with the education minister.
The union says it will maintain the mobilization until the government formally invites teachers to dialogue. With classes suspended nationwide and the hunger strike continuing despite health complications among participants, the dispute over the future of Bolivia’s public education system remains unresolved.
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