Puerto Rico: Teachers Protest Governor's Cut Announcement

Puerto Rican teachers are protesting recently announced budget cuts that will adversely affect the educational system.

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Amid government talks about the shuttering of hundreds of learning institutions and a reduction in academic staff complement and layoffs of some 7,000 teachers.

The reform, teleSUR's Luis De Jesus said, could result in the closure of about 300 education centers across the Latin American country. The budget trim is being pushed by Governor Ricardo Rosello.

The Teachers' Federation of Puerto Rico-promoted strike is scheduled to coincide with the Senate session on Monday, in which the proposed reform was being discussed. The Association of Teachers of Puerto Rico (AMPR), on the other hand, declined to participate in the protest actions.

AMPR President Aida Diaz, explained that her group would not endorse the strike citing a previous occasion when the association supported similar action, they lost union group status preventing the organization from negotiating salary increases.

Just over a month ago, Rosello had made the announcement that the 2019-2022 budget for the education sector would be reduced as a measure to cut state funding.

Puerto Rican educators joined teachers in the region and North and Central America, who also lead protests. However, state funding cuts did not feature in a nationwide strike in neighboring Jamaica, but rather a push for a pay increase.

President of Jamaica Teachers' Association, Georgia Waugh Richards, did not comment on a teachers' three-day sickout, but the action came after a break down in negotiations between the government and the organization.

Further north, about 15,000 teachers protested educational reform in Mexico.

While U.S. teachers in West Virginia and Arizona walked out of classrooms to protest low wages, inspiring Oklahoma to plan a similar action. Kentucky teachers and retirees marched against a controversial pension reform bill.