The Legacy of Dictatorship and Persistent Socio-Economic Inequalities in Chile’s Educational Policy
Authors: Walsh Aisling 
Published: February 2025

Since 2011 the Chilean education system has faced a crisis of unprecedented proportions. The 2011 school year was virtually paralysed as students of secondary and higher education, as well as teachers, took part in strikes that lasted weeks and flooded the streets of Santiago de Chile in the largest demonstrations the country has seen since the restoration of democracy. The marches have continued throughout 2012 and 2013, with over 150,000 students marching through the capital as recently as April this year (Fang 2013). It is the largest and most persistent social movement to have arisen in the democratic era, dating back to the mass ‘pinguino’ protests of 2006 where 600,000 students marched for educational reforms (Delano 2011). The movement has sparked national and international scrutiny of the profoundly unequal conditions that exist within the Chilean education system, as well as broader questions of social and economic justice in Chilean society. Students have been campaigning persistently against the excessive cost of education, the widespread privatisation and for-profit nature of educational institutions and the increasing disparities between rich and poor in access to quality education at all levels. Successive attempts to appease the students through greater budgetary allocations as well as reforms to the student loan system have been rejected by the movement (Muñoz 2012, 25). Their demands go far beyond the provision of additional resources for education. They argue that the structure of Chilean education is fundamentally flawed, creating one of the most expensive and unequal education systems in the world. At the core of their frustrations is the belief that the Chilean model of education is a relic of the Pinochet regime. Key features of the current education system were implemented between 1973 and 1990, a period of institutionalized human rights violations. Furthermore, successive democratic administrations have failed to significantly reform these structural aspects of the education system. Therefore they argue that the time has come for a fundamental reorganization of education in Chile towards a system that provides genuinely free, high quality education that is accessible to all (Muñoz 2012, 6; Delano 2011; Tomasevski 2006,198).
This paper takes the argument of the student movement as its starting point. It will explore the claim that this current state Chilean education has its roots in the social and economic policies implemented during the Pinochet regime that have remained largely unchanged during the democratic era. This raises key questions about Chile’s transition from dictatorship to democracy and the failure to address violations of economic, social and cultural rights that occurred during the regime. Therefore, this paper will analyse the development of educational policy in Chile since the Pinochet era, taking a human rights based approach. By drawing on international standards on the right to education, it will examine whether Chile is meeting its obligations under international human rights law, to respect, protect and fulfill the right to education. It will question whether economic and social policy implemented under an authoritarian regime can be considered compatible with social justice. This will require a brief sketch of the right to education under international law and a broader examination of the economic and social policy implemented under the Pinochet regime and following the restoration of democracy. Finally it will examine the nature of Chile’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy and whether transitional justice processes have any role to play in addressing current social tensions and the demands of the student movement.
The Chilean student movement has drawn attention to issues that go beyond their immediate demands for educational reform. They have highlighted deeper frustrations lying at the heart of Chilean society: questions of equality and social justice following the restoration of democracy have been sacrificed in the name of economic growth and political stability. The movement has finally brought the intimate relationship between the violence of the military takeover, the violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that occurred during the regime and persistent social and economic injustices, into the mainstream public discourse.