Weekly Report - 24 May 2007

Education was the watchword in President Michelle Bachelet's state-of-the-nation address to congress on 21 May. The word cropped up 43 times during Bachelet's (nearly two-hour) speech, significantly more than any other key word. She promised US$650m more spending on education, taking the education budget over US$5bn for the first time. Bachelet may well have had in mind the weeks following her first state-of-the-nation address last May when the teachers' federation, Colegio de Profesores, and secondary school students staged massive nationwide protests at the under funded education system.