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Thousands of Colombians protest education reform

08 April 2011 04:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APAÅŸThousands of Colombian students and teachers marched the streets Thursday in protest of a reform bill that could allow privatization of public schools, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

At least five large groups of protestors marched from their universities in Bogota to the Bolivar Square near the Congress and headquarters of the Colombian government. Protests also broke out in other major cities across the country.

The marches were summoned by Colombia’s Central Union of Workers (CUT) and were under tight security control. About 15,000 police agents were deployed in Bogota to keep order, Colombian Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said.

The protests were peaceful, although they caused traffic jams in the capital city, Rivera said.

Last month, the Colombian government presented to the national legislature a reform bill for higher education addressing the problem of its lack of resources.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has said "if public schools want to be competitive, they cannot reject private investments and it must be clear, this does not mean privatization, but investment."